riggerrob 643 #1 August 30, 2006 FICHE_INFO_MAT_23.pdf Eric Fradet (Technical Director for the Federation Francais du Parachutisme) just sent me this technical bulletin about cracked white plastic (Nylatron) stiffeners in Advance containers, built in France. The manufacturer has agreed to replace cracked stiffeners with - more durable - gray MDS plastic. Older Sidewinders suffer from the same problem: cracked white plastic (Nylatron) stiffeners. I have repaired so many Sidewinders that I convinced Flying High to use MDS in current production. For example: I am currently replacing main side flap stiffeners in a Sidewinder. It does not help that they stuffed a Skymaster 230 into a Sidewinder sized for a Hornet 190. Hee! Hee! Nylatron has gradually fallen out of fashion with major American manufacturers because of this cracking problem. Para-Phernalia is probably the last American manufacturer to use Nylatron - in their "Softie" line of pilot emergency parachutes. Mind you, most PEPs have such low pack density that they can get away with lower strength materials in their containers (i.e. brass grommets). Other American manufacturers - like Butler and Rigging Innovations - have used MDS from the outset. MDS has proved quite durable for most installations. It is only when you approach the edges of the envelope that MDS fails. For example, one of the first Service Bulletins published by R.I. instructed riggers to replace 40/1000 inch MDS reserve pack tray stiffeners (aka. reserve closing loop anchors) with aluminum plates. Mind you, R.I. aluminum plates were never as long as Vector aluminum stiffeners so they do not suffer the same bending problem. At the light weight edge of the envelope, I had to replace a few 20/1000" MDS stiffeners in the main riser covers of '94 Talons, before they perfected that pattern set. The only other broken MDS stiffeners were in over-stuffed Telesis containers. Spring-loaded main pilot chutes only aggravate that problem. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BKR 0 #2 August 31, 2006 Rob, I am the Advance Manufacturer and we came back to the same we used before PA12 Rilsan. We never had problems with this quality before. Those cracks came from a poor quality Nylatron after excess of packing volume in main container. Could you answer my PM. Thank youJérôme Bunker Basik Air Concept www.basik.fr http://www.facebook.com/pages/Le-Luc-France/BASIK-AIR-CONCEPT/172133350468 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riggermick 7 #3 August 31, 2006 QuoteFICHE_INFO_MAT_23.pdf Eric Fradet (Technical Director for the Federation Francais du Parachutisme) just sent me this technical bulletin about cracked white plastic (Nylatron) stiffeners in Advance containers, built in France. The manufacturer has agreed to replace cracked stiffeners with - more durable - gray MDS plastic. Older Sidewinders suffer from the same problem: cracked white plastic (Nylatron) stiffeners. I have repaired so many Sidewinders that I convinced Flying High to use MDS in current production. For example: I am currently replacing main side flap stiffeners in a Sidewinder. It does not help that they stuffed a Skymaster 230 into a Sidewinder sized for a Hornet 190. Hee! Hee! Nylatron has gradually fallen out of fashion with major American manufacturers because of this cracking problem. Para-Phernalia is probably the last American manufacturer to use Nylatron - in their "Softie" line of pilot emergency parachutes. Mind you, most PEPs have such low pack density that they can get away with lower strength materials in their containers (i.e. brass grommets). Other American manufacturers - like Butler and Rigging Innovations - have used MDS from the outset. MDS has proved quite durable for most installations. It is only when you approach the edges of the envelope that MDS fails. For example, one of the first Service Bulletins published by R.I. instructed riggers to replace 40/1000 inch MDS reserve pack tray stiffeners (aka. reserve closing loop anchors) with aluminum plates. Mind you, R.I. aluminum plates were never as long as Vector aluminum stiffeners so they do not suffer the same bending problem. At the light weight edge of the envelope, I had to replace a few 20/1000" MDS stiffeners in the main riser covers of '94 Talons, before they perfected that pattern set. The only other broken MDS stiffeners were in over-stuffed Telesis containers. Spring-loaded main pilot chutes only aggravate that problem. For anyone interested, MDS stands for Molibdinum Di-Sulfide. Molibdinum being one of the strongest and most flexable substances out there. When coupled with nylon it's pretty fricken cool and can be used in a variety of different applications. At least that's the way John Sherman described it to me (many moons ago). Mick. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
