hackish

I think it's worthwhile to get casters with the locks on them. Make it roll only when you want it to. I wish I had a photo of the machine I just sold. I took some scrap 4x4 square stock, cut the legs shorter (on a chop saw) and added wheels similar to the attached photo (factory brother tacker table). Thing is I found just adding wheels raised the table too high. -Michael

If I knew what I know now when I bought my 112w140 I would have never fixed up a busted old machine. Now I question why there is a busted ass old Juki on my workbench... Good news is that I know a lot more about how to fix them. A year so ago I was talking to one of the guys at pennsew and he offered if I picked up a tacker from them he'd throw a spare 112w140 head on the pallet too. You might want to look them up and ask if they still have a ton of them laying around or if they went off for scrap. Could be a good source for parts. -Michael

I have an Op126 and safire 2 129. Putting that combination in my 310 was like a sausage in a hallway. I ended up putting my OP143 and Katana 150 back in. UPT can best tell you what rig they will fit in. I can only point to the one I tried and I know they won't. -Michael

Post a picture of all the pieces and I'm sure we can tell you what goes where and in what order. I could probably pop the cover off my machine and take a few photos. -Michael

The assumption I make is that before every skyhook activation you start under a malfunctioning main. -Michael

There is a balancing act. If it is too tight then the opening for the flap will be obscured by the tape on your flaps and it will become worn from repeated openings. As others pointed out you need to have a properly sized canopy to fill the space in there. Experienced packers/riggers should be able to tell you in an instant if the amount of force and length of loop is appropriate. -Michael

I think there isn't a big downside to putting an over-sized piece of velcro on the bridle. Without sewing across the top layer of bridle then re-closing it I could see a longer piece as being more durable since it better distributes the load. I'm definitely with the others about using the preferred packing method. You can put a piece of pile velcro over the piece on your rig or remove it completely. In the photo I posted I removed the velcro entirely. -Michael

I have that exact machine. I got screwed and it had to be extensively rebuilt so if you post photos of your problem I can probably give you direction. -Michael

I know it was already mentioned, but under a malfunctioning main, nearly every time someone 'feels' that they were spinning it was centrifugal loading with the parachute at the center, not rotational relative to the jumper. -Michael

Most times I've done that repair the OEM sewed it on completely before the bridle was sewed together so I just rip the stitches and re-sew exactly as original. It only takes a few minutes and ripping stitches on ty4 is easy. -Michael

I looked at this one when it first went up but the pictures were not clear and the fact they called it a double needle made me think it was some sort of custom modified machine. I'll try to get some time playing with a class 7 machine then decide if the 132k6 would be better. -Michael

Everyone is human and can make mistakes but a repair like this, it boggles my mind a bit since I just assumed it would be obvious to everyone. Maybe you could post a photo of the repair. If he accidentally caught the kill line when he closed the bridle that's different than blindly sewing through the bridle itself. For damage to the kill line, I think it's unlikely that it damaged it. If it did, it is pretty trivial to make a new kill line. -Michael

Not sure. Since I built a synchronizer for the 20U I can get through most reasonable thickness materials. I was trying to see if there was a needle feed or walking foot straight/zigzag that could replace it but no luck so far. This year I sewed several hundred bartacks on my 20U. I got them to look quite consistent but ultimately it was the time. In my case where I'm doing some light production work it's just stupid to sit and manually zig-zag every single tack. You could get away with a table that's only a couple feet wide if you want. I'm in the process of converting a LK-1850 to a servo because the $1000 clutch is missing. It may actually go on a pedestal to be a dedicated lineset machine. Technically I own 2 tackers. Catch me on next season Discovery show "Hoarders" I can't answer that, but for comparison, the 132K6 has about half an inch. 1/2" seems to be a pretty significant limit. I was nearly ready to get rid of my singer 112w140 because of lift until I realized it was out of adjustment. I'm definitely game to see what these Class 7 machines and their prices look like... -Michael

For me that loop still looks too long. Not by a lot but enough to pull the pin through. I tried to pull mine through and without trying very hard wasn't able to.

A harness machine will complete my collection. 20U, double needle, e-tacker and harness machine. What more could a guy need? Please don't answer that one. What is the foot lift like on the class 7 machines? -Michael

Probably about 2010 I was speaking with Bill Booth and he said that he was going to change the closing method for the vector 3 but it would take 10 years before any skydivers noticed. He wasn't wrong ya know... -Michael

I was considering picking one up but after hearing Jerry talk about what his 132-K6 was able to do I'm not sure anymore. The other consideration is what my will might be able to do to my knees if another machine shows up here. Do you have the machines yet or are they en-route? -Michael

Most of the points I would have made have been covered already. Something people don't realize is how brief the time is that the RSL equipped main could impart any torsional energy. The reserve itself has a huge amount of inertia as compared to the reserve bridle and it would have to be spinning at thousands of RPM to have the option of imparting energy to cause the twist. A more likely cause is that under a spinning mal your body is loaded up in the harness and it's easy to carry an asymmetrical body position into the reserve opening sequence. -Michael

You will get loads of people who drink kool-aid from each side. The reasons I recommend one over the other are not related to safety as I believe both are safe products. At my DZ we have hundreds of Vigils and under 10 cypres units. As a result, if you needed a cutter or a display for a vigil every rigger can get one locally. I have no local sources for Cypres parts. Nobody keeps them in stock. This is a small item to consider. Check in with your rigger to make sure they have sufficient exposure to your choice that parts are readily available. -Michael

I was aware that the discussions were going on, I'm just shocked that what I previously thought was a big fat slow organization moved so fast. In the past year there has been some major movement within TC and the FAA that caught me off guard. We have an updated rigger manual. New TSO stuff coming down the pipe. In Canada, new rules about diabetic pilots, list goes on. It's almost like some older folks retired and handed in their pagers. I also understand there is some new direction being worked on about CSPA and FAA riggers that could allow a CSPA Rigger A1 to operate as an FAA Senior rigger in the USA. I think it could be worthwhile to compile a good solid list of "conflicts" to look at and provide it to the FAA to see if they might come up with necessary guidance. IE repack cycle, foreign gear, etc etc etc. -Michael

Sorry about my earlier post as I don't know what happened to the second half and it won't let me edit it. Here is basically what it said: In my experience, most times with 50 jumps experience, consistently experiencing line twist, packing is not entirely to blame. Body position during the pitch and throughout the opening can frequently mean the difference between an off-heading opening and a bunch of twists. Off heading you can tweak to improve, twists are something you need to correct. In person, a rigger can easily help you to check over the gear to make sure it's not a contributor. We can internet advice your butt all day long but in-person is where it's at. Most of the advice I give when teaching deals with preventing hard openings and making tweaks to reduce wear on the gear. For the packing end of things and the manual, knowledge on the subject has evolved in the years since the V2 manual was written. Although I'd aim for 18" of line, a more important part would be proper force on the elastics - about 10 lbs for each stow. There have been many theories over the years but with good instruments and high speed videos the manufacturers learned that lots of the theories and beer tent advice were not supported by science. The orientation of the bag probably makes little difference. I think there was a PD youtube video published that gives lots of technical advice on packing. At worse, give them a call and see what they suggest. -Michael

Small thing to add... it's worthwhile to spend the extra $10 on OEM brand parts. I had the grind/file the hell out of chinese crap quality parts to make them work properly. -Michael

Best piece of advice I ever got was from an old fart in Deland. He suggested that I spend an entire jump doing practice pulls and making sure I was staying on heading... I'll bet I went a good 200 jumps linetwist free after that... -Michael

Small thing to add here. Make sure the main PC is the appropriate size and in good shape with a properly adjusted kill line. I have seen cases where an inadequate snatch led to tons of nasty openings. I replaced the PC for the jumper and he swore that I'd relined his canopy or something. -Micael

As usual Mel, your posts are brimming with info. In fact I was really curious as to why the PD design called for only a single pass on the bar while all the tacks in the machine although end stop have the 3 passes you describe. I assume some may be to speed up each cycle but on the other side they're not exactly failing. Next step I suppose is to build a custom clamp with adjustable line stoppers. -Michael