Ticking Along

So been ticking along with the balloon. Sadly its either all throttle or nothing at all. Some days i sit down at the machine and smash out a 10 panels. Others everything goes wrong and i put it down for a week. Friday's seems to be the day for progress however that can be totally ruined with issues coming up or the folder not playing ball.

My basket has shipped from England. Its a pretty 77 T&C to go with some V-30's and my Stratus single. Should be a nice set up once i have finished modernizing a couple of the components. Ill be a busy man sewing up new everything. One thing my dad has taught me is always look after and be proud of your gear. So it will be locked away getting it right before it gets put into action.

On the sewing front i had a very productive day managing to sew 15 panels yesterday which put me to a total of 65 panels also known as 1/4. If everything plays ball we should get a couple more done today. Katie is righting my wrongs by taking each row of panels out of the individual gore rolls

On the sewing machine front the machine sometimes goes out when new bobbins are added which is no hassle. Its just a minor adjustment to get it running good again. As you can see the cotton has left behind sections of white fluff which is coating on the thread. Not sure how this will affect the balloon. I am guessing once heat is applied it will help fill any holes from where the needles have punctured. So far this hasn't affected the machine and doubt it will create an issue. Only thing is you cant go flat out on the machine which isnt an issue for me.

There are two ways to sew a balloon, horizontally or vertically. So what is the difference?
Vertically you sew together A-B-C-D to complete a gore which was the original plan and creates less clutter because you can store a gore once its complete (Big plus with the space i am working with).
Horizontally you sew the balloon left to right (A-B-A-B-A-B) but everything stays as individual gores. The big let down is space is tight because you are working on large sections of fabric for long periods of time but you know where to tension each panel to make it fit together better and you end up mastering a row. Another big plus is you can grab one sequence of panels and the next panel you are sewing and just grab whats in the heap.

I guess you can say the first balloon is the hardest as with any firsts but after the amount of set backs and knowledge i have gained the next one whenever that happens will be a breeze.

The barrier has been broken!

As i have said time and time again. Building a balloon to me is about 4 main barriers. These are making templates (Initiation of the project etc), cutting fabric, sewing fabric and all the finishing jobs to get it ready for inflation. As many of you know i have gotten hung up on the sewing part for a while now until just recently.

Towards the end of last week i sat down at the machine and played around a little bit. Managed to do a couple of seams which turned out well. Got the machine running right so i was a happy camper. With i guess ballooning firing in my gut recently i have more drive than ever before because its finally coming together. I guess you could say i see the light at the end of the tunnel and sadly for me the only thing stopping me is some hard work!

So after a couple hours of thinking it over i finally sat down at the machine and started sewing the balloon. The folder is annoying at first but once you start a panel it is an amazing tool for the novice sewer.

Actually, talking of sewing a balloon isn't sewn it is more like "industrial bonded". The reason for this is with sewing its all about beauty and it being tidy. On the slip side you have industrial bonding which is all about strength and if its tidy i guess that's a bonus. Luckily for us balloons are massive and even the professionally built balloons are filled with minor "blemishes". 

Over the years i have come to realize balloons are over engineered as i guess with all aircraft any anything you want to last for a significant amount of time. I guess things built in the 1950's are a testament to things being over engineered or built well. With that being said i have changed my mindset on how my balloon is built, Not to say it is unsafe or a weak balloon its just within parameters of tolerance and minor "blemishes" should don't affect strength.

So anyway on to what i have done over the last little while. I have managed to put together all panels A-B and halfway through B-C as of today. The machine has had some minor issues but have managed to work out most of the issues. I hope by the end i will still consider building another balloon because the next one will be super easy compared to the wealth of knowledge i have gained so far!