The most common failures in model rocketry are recovery failures - your parachute either gets stuck in the rocket, or it comes out and doesn't fully open up. Sometimes chutes come out in a wad of plastic, and the rocket falls too quickly, resulting in broken fins, damaged body tubes, and wounded pride. Hopefully, that's the worst of it!
Instructions in Estes kits have you fold parachutes in the following manner:
1. Grab the middle of the canopy and pull the shroud lines tight.
2. Fold the top of the canopy down to the bottom edge.
3. Roll both sides of the canopy to the center.
4. Loosely wrap the shroud lines around the bundle.
This works well enough - probably most of the time - but I don't prefer it. The bundle is rather large, and I find that it doesn't pack well. Some times there's not enough room to get the nose cone on. Sometimes the chute gets stuck halfway in the tube when it should eject out and allow the rocket to drift slowly to Earth. Or sometimes the whole mess just becomes a wad of plastic, barely slowing the rocket.
There's a better way - a method of parachute folding which, since I started using it, I almost never have a parachute problem.
The key is to allow your chute to do the least amount of work to deploy.
Start by laying your chute face down on your work surface, with a flat side toward you.
Fold the top down to the bottom edge, and line everything up nicely.
When I teach kids to fold chutes, I tell them "Look - it kind of looks like Batman!" I find giving them a story helps them remember the steps. "And what happens when Batman sees the Joker? He gets angry and crosses his arms!"
Fold one of the top corners down and across to the opposite bottom corner.
Now fold the other top corner down to the other bottom corner.
You now have a nice triangle. Fold that triangle in half to make a smaller triangle.
Now all your shroud lines are together, and everything is nice and neat.
Gather up your shroud lines and lay them over the triangle, then double them back.
Next, fold the triangle into an even skinnier triangle, with the shroud lines tucked inside.
Fold the top third down, and then fold that section down.
Finally, roll the whole thing up nice and tight.
This makes a nice, small bundle, and with the shroud lines tucked inside like that, all the chute has to do is unfold a little and everything will come out. There's no tangling, no bunching, no unrolling - it's all very easy for the parachute.
To see this folding method in video form, as well as how to attach parachutes to your rocket, and the easiest way to cut a spill hole, check out my latest YouTube video, HERE.
