Envelope Fabrication Details
N-8681H Lighter Than Air Builder's Logbook
Model: Chairlift 1 * Serial Number: 2021LTA
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December 30, 2020
Decided on yellow Nomex for the mouth/first panel of balloon. 1 hour
February 19, 2021
Fabricated, prepared, and cut the majority of panel patterns. 2.5 hours
March 2, 2021
Finished design then took to factory to discuss with Forey. Red parachute top. 5 hours
March 16, 2021
Cut old fabric and learned to sew with old fabric. Two hours 30 minutes
March 22, 2021
More practice sewing with old fabric. One hour 30 minutes
March 26, 2021
More practiced sewing with old fabric. One hour 45 minutes
May 6, 2021
More sewing practice. 3 hours 15 minutes
May 19, 2021
More sewing practice. Chairlift 1's fabric arrived at factory. Yippy!!! 3 hours
May 20, 2021
More sewing practice. Mom came out and gave sewing a try. 3 hours
June 23, 2021
Started cutting fabric from pattern. 3 hours
June 24, 2021
Continued cutting panels. 3 hours
June 25, 2021
Continued Cutting - 3 hours
June 28, 2021
Finished Cutting - 3 hours
July 22, 2021
Assembled panels behind the sewing machine and started sewing panels into gores. Sewed gore 16. 3 hours
July 23, 2021
Assembled panels into gores 15, 14, 13, 11, 10, & 9. 6 hours
July 30, 2021
Assembled panels for gore 12. 3 hours
August 2, 2021
Sewed panels into gores 8, 7, & 6. 3 hours
August 3, 2021
Sewed panels into gores 5, 4, 3, 2, & 1. 3 hours
August 9, 2021
Sewed and assembled. 3 hours
August 12, 2021
Sewed. Sewing machine needs repair. 1 hour
August 16, 2021
Sewing machine needed repair. Sewing on hold.
Repair man made a house call. Worked on trimming by using a hot iron on threads. 2 hours
August 19, 2021
Sewed parachute. Assembled all the gores behind the sewing machine. 3 hours
September 8, 2021
Sewed more parachute. - 3 hour
September 15, 2021
Inspected and repaired sewing flaws. Sewed vertical load tapes vertical. 3 hours
September 16, 2021
Sewed vertical load tapes. Continued with inspecting and repaired sewing flaws. 3 hours
September 20, 2021
Sewed vertical load tapes and seems on month and top of envelope. Continued with inspecting and repaired sewing flaws. Sewed webbing to top. 3 hour
September 22, 2021
Finished sewing load tape seams to parachute. Cut and sewed circle top on parachute. Sewed seem on top of envelope. Forey took out and repaired zig zag sewing machine. Measured load tape for parachute. Sewed load tapes to parachute. 2 hours
September 28, 2021
Sewed load tapes to parachute. Cut webbing. 2 hour
September 29, 2021
Sewed parachute tabs to inside balloon between panel ten and eleven. 2 hours
September 30, 2021
Measured webbing and Velcro tabs for parachute top. Sewed Velcro to webbing. 2 hour
October 1, 2021
Measured, cut, and sewed temperature wire sleave to inside of balloon. Installed temperature tab. 3 hours
October 11, 2021
Started to make apex webbing. Cut and sewed. Finished Velcro tabs. 3 hours
October 29, 2021
Finished apex webbing. 3 hours
November 2, 2021
Finished making a bag for envelope. 6 hours making bag.
December 14, 2021
Sewed load tapes to envelope. 3 hours
December 15, 2021
Finished sewing load tapes to envelope. Started to design turning vent. 3 hours
December 23, 2021
Started to plan placement of N number and reviewed plans for next year. 2 hours
January 3, 2022
Made N Number 3 hours
January 13, 2022
Finished N Number. Sewed to envelope 3 hours
January 19, 2022
Designed and cut pattern for turning vent between panels 6 and 8. 3 hours
February 2, 2022
Fabricated turning vent patterns. 3 hours
March 15, 2022
Fabricated, sewed and installed turning vent tabs. 3 hour
April 15, 2022
Sewed temperature wire sleeve in new location. 3 hour
April 28, 2022
Final installation of envelope's inside parts for turning vents and cable work. 3 hour
July 17, 2022
Inflated the envelope. Inspected envelope, turning vents, parachute top. Made list of items to modify and complete. 2 hour
August 19, 2022
Second envelope inflation. Installed parachute deflation line. Inspected envelope, installed vent lines and further inspected parachute top. Adjusted operating lines for length. 2 hour
October 1, 2022
Third envelope inflation/inspection and this time added Chairlift 1 - 2 hour
