
Good luck
Loving the P.A.R.I.S. project
The Paper Aircraft Released Into Space (PARIS) team is preparing to turn down the pressure with a second visit to QinetiQ's hypobaric chamber. You'll recall that our first attempt to put together a pressure-operated release mechanism for the Vulture 1 aircraft didn't quite run on rails. Undaunted, we stuck with our plan to …
If it isn't too impertinent, could I suggest that you make where the eyelet joins the "hanging shaft" as smooth a possible to prevent it snagging upon release. From the pictures it looks like you have formed it by bending the wire back round itself. You could use solder to smooth over the join and then file it smooth to make sure there are no protrusions to snag in the release hole in the trunking. It would be a real shame if the expansion system worked, the pin pulls out and then the payload drops a millimetre or two but no more because it has snagged.
Oh, SNagged, with my old monitor and even older eyes S's and H's look very similar.
But all hail to Vulture Central for keeping alive British stick and string aircraft manufacture, I've been in the industry for nigh on 40 years and this loks like the most interesting thing going at the moment.
Rob
Simple Baloon Release Mechanism
An idea for a more simple, less mechanical, possibly more reliable release mechanism. A baloon (long skinny as used for making baloon animals or hats) in a clear glass or plastic tube, open to the atmosphere, a valve in the inflating end to pressurize, the baloon painted black at the other end to block light from an LED to a light sensor. When the baloon expands linearly along the tube to block the light path through or just outside the tube, it would cause an electro-magnetic latch to release the package. It would take some experimenting and calibration to find the proper size tube and baloon, and amount of pressure to make it work reliably... but, certainly more simple and less mechanical, possibly smaller and lighter, too.
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