Basejumper.com - archive

 

I have seen plastic grommets/washers
but not on a parachute...

EDITED TO BE MORE SUBTLE

i have heard that someone, allblack wearing guy, has gone in some B (dont know where) with non metal gear, but i dont know anything else...i promise ;)...so ask him... ;)

I know a guy that tried a couple of diffrent things, bi-metal and plastic shatter or chip away after awhile. He also tried an all nylon slider which eventual caused burn lines in the slider which he thought might have caused a hang up situation, possibly good for a temporary situation though.

I would assume a rig like this wouldn't be high use...

from a materials properties and manufacturing point of view, I would say carbon fibre is your best bet

it's easy and cost effective enough when manufactured in small quantities and its use as brake rotors for racing shows it has good temperature resistance and deals well with friction

ceramics would mean expensive tooling and still brittle, so you would be risking cracking and breaking them easy

some Nylons or other plastics might be OK for the temps, but they would cost a lot to tool, as you probably couldn't get away with machining a plastic to get a smooth enough surface and that leaves you needing a die/mould...

edited: googled and this came up, probably worth a try?

http://www.plastgrommet.com

A number of plastics (HDPE, phenolic) machine well with wood working tools. A small radius roundover router bit would do the trick; perhaps in the form of an 1/8" bit chucked up in a dremel tool.

I really like this, If/when I get a no-metal rig... this might be the ticket... check out the 25mm tech data sheet...

=============
added links provided by Steve (thanks)

http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/114/3663
http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/114/3660(bottom of page)

a company in twin falls makes a lot of the parts for mcmaster...