Odyssey Owners w/ Diamondback Material

[Nickkk 0]

Hello -

I am looking for pictures of rigs with this material, particularly in black. I sent an email to Sunpath and was told:

We do have DB in Black, however we have found that sometimes it fades to
an odd brown color. Not always but it has happened. We cant determine
when or what causes it. So I must say that you will need to use it at
your own risk. I am copying this to Rick, he will receive your order
and this will need to be attached. You may also need to be prepared for
our Operations manager to kick it back and request we not use it. I
would ask him now but he is unavailable.



Doesn anyone have any pics of their rig with this material and how has it held up?

Thanks!

What do you do when someone throws a big planet at you?
Throw your pilot chute in defense!

[riggerrob 643]

While I have not seen this problem with diamond-back fabric, I have seen it on several other fabrics and threads.
Sun Path had the same problem with a batch of Javelins made of para-pack, during the early 1990s. They started out black, but faded to brown after a few years. Structural strength was not affected. I know a photographer who made a thousand jumps after his Javelin faded to brown.
Rigging Innovations also made a few rigs from that same batch of para-pack.
I suspect that the problem starts at mills that spin nylon thread. Normally they mix dye into molten nylon before it is stretched and spun into thread. They may make a batch of brown thread, but if it sits on the shelf too long, re-dye it black. That batch of black thread looks great for a few years, but eventually fades to brown.
Part of the problem is the difficulty in convincing dye to penetrate nylon after it has been spun.
Try to picture painting a shiny glass rod.
You often see black nylon thread that fades to brown or grey or green.

[Nickkk 0]

Hmmm interesting. Why do these bastards need to be cheap and ruin my potential rig design? Boooo.

What do you do when someone throws a big planet at you?
Throw your pilot chute in defense!

[MagicGuy 0]

I've seen black Diamondback fade. I've also seen it start to unravel and fray. For the price of an Odyssey, I woudn't want this happening to my rig.

I'd stick with Cordura.

[KRBKV 0]

Hi!

Here is some recent threads with pictures relating your question.

1. Diamondback diskussion #1

2. Diamondback diskussion #2

Good luck!

[Nickkk 0]

Thanks.... YEah for the price of the rig I dont want the material to degrade....

What do you do when someone throws a big planet at you?
Throw your pilot chute in defense!

[KRBKV 0]

Quote

YEah for the price of the rig I dont want the material to degrade....

It is your choise, but during three last years of using my rig i did not notice any evidences of degradation of this fabrik.

[Nickkk 0]

Quote

Quote

YEah for the price of the rig I dont want the material to degrade....

It is your choise, but during three last years of using my rig i did not notice any evidences of degradation of this fabrik.

Is it black? I wanted it on the reserve container...

What do you do when someone throws a big planet at you?
Throw your pilot chute in defense!

[KRBKV 0]

Quote

Is it black? I wanted it on the reserve container...

My rig's reserve container is gold diamondback.

[teason 0]

Actually, Rob, the problem comes from how black fabrics are commonly made.

Black fabric is often dyed by taking a colour and increasing concentration until black is achieved. For example, you can have a blue-black, red-black,green black or brown black. If you have a red Bic pen with a clear shaft, you'll notice that where the ink is thick, it's black.

This is quite common in the textile industry and I've seen black parapack fade to brown and black type XIII fade to blue.

I believe that true black is available but too expensive for normal fabric manufacture, if memory serves.

Just some useless info

I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.