Kitebuilder.com

[icenum]

I was reading the Posts on the correct weave aligment on a sail..On a kite on the LE what is the best alignment there to reduce stretch with Ripstop (coated) material..And whats the proper alinment of each panel.

[marty]

Theoretically the warp (the long length coming off of the roll) is going to stronger and the stretch will be less. With something like Texlon or PC31 the difference between the warp and the weft (the cross threads) is going to be pretty small.

Some kites don't have much of an alignment issue. It looks like the fabric is laid out and the table and a template was placed over it. These kites usually flew just fine. Others definitely try align the fabric to take advantage of the way the fabric will stretch under load.

I try to keep the grain parallel to the trailing edge. The leading edge isn't that important to me since I figure that the leading edge fabric will control the stretch along the leading edge.

Nylon has more bias stretch than the polyesters which in turn have more than the films (with or without scrim).

So, I would recommend designing the panels so that the grain is more or less parallel to the trailing edge or heavily re-inforcing the trailing edge.
_________________
Gentle breezes...

Marty Sasaki
Arlington, MA USA

[icenum]

Thanks Marty, I order my materials (Thnx. Steve ) and hope to start soon as our machines out of the shop Friday..

There seems to be a prob of the motherboard shorting possibly some sot of static electrical discharge, so I may go on the look out for a good mechanical Pfaff or Bernina machine..2 motherboards in a few months just does not seem right..May let her trade up on another & buy myself and older unit dedicated to kite building..Friend has a Bernina (older model) that sews kite very well also..