My First Backpack.

[And E]

Finished! 19.4 oz

Build pics:

Hardest part of this build so far has been getting the thread, Guterman Tera (TeX 35) to feed properly through my machine. Since it's a mini cone, I had lots of jams earlier on, until I modded the cone to feed like a normal spool by shoving foam into the bottom with a hole for my spool holder, and making a foam top so the thread doesn't pull up from the top. it feeds just fine now.

ghetto rigged spool (There is also a disk of 1/2" foam inside the concave cavity at the bottom of the spool):

All ripstop is urethane coated.
Back panel/bottom: 300×400 diamond ripstop from Seattle Fabrics
Main Pack Body: 70D universal digi camo ripstop from OWF dyed to be blueish gray
(I wanted it gray/black but messed up by using black dye which turned it purple
and had to use yellow to knock out the purple ness. should have used Pearl gray
dye. Pictureof fabric on OWF looks gray but it's actually olive/green/tan).
shoulder straps & Hip belt: 70D carbon black ripstop from DIY gear supply
3D Spacer Mesh – 3mm
1/4" ccf for shoulder straps/hipbelt

Finished dimensions should be ~ 11" x 8" x 31" (fully open/unrolled)

[Michael Pappas]

In my experience each time you have the cord go through something the more resistance it gives and the less it will want to evenly compass through the different loops. (I hope this makes sense) So I'd do less routing back and forth. I'd also use 1/2" d rings that Chris Zimmer sells on his site to route the cord through and let the tightened cord distribute the tension throughout.

As for load lifters, unless they're going up be anchored to a frame of some sort they won't do anything. I'm not sure by looking at your design if there's a frame sheet or internal frame

Good luck
Michael

[And E]

Thanks Michael. I actually just went ahead with option A, and I did use the 1/2" Beastie Dee rings that I got from DIY Gear Supply. I'm using a two section piece of a Z-Lite Sol as a frame sheet, but I skipped the load lifter straps, as I hardly ever use the ones on my GoLite Jam 50. Just need to finish the mesh pockets on the left panel and then I can do the final assembly.

Edit: Ended up adding load lifter straps. Though not at 45* angle, it still helps bring in the load a little bit.

[Ben Smith]

Great looking materials – you see too many bags which all look the same.
z-lite sections for back support – will that be removable to use in your sleep system and/or as a sit mat?

I can't actually help with the compression system but I look forward to seeing the finished item.

[And E]

All done, lots of pictures to look at.

[todd]

Wow And E!

You have a bad case of the MYOG bug!

Sweet pack, my friend.

[Velimir Kemec]

Hi,

FANTASTIC!

Cheers

[Ben Smith]

You've got a real talent there And E. Great work. Again, love the fabric colour.

[Thomas Vree]

Very nicely done.

I also like the colour of the pack. And the zipper on the top lid is a nice touch.

[rick .]

I like it! Looks very well made and carefully thought out. It fits you great too. It looks like it could carry comfortable full to the top with lead!

[Delmar O’Donnell]

Looks professional. Can't tell by the photos it's home made.

[David Chenault]

Well done sir.

Did you use RIT for the dye job?

[And E]

Thanks everyone for looking!

@David – Yes, I used the liquid Rit dye. I didn't think about using pearl gray. That said, I'm actually really happy with the way the color turned out after toning down the purpleness with yellow dye.

[Jeffrey Wong]

Like the zipper job! and the little zipper garage!

Excellent foam pad pocket. Seam treatment looks great.

Cool cinch system! Everything looks so precise. Really, really nice. Like something that the maker hadn't rushed.

Big pat on the back for you!

[And E]

Thanks! It took my only a few nights of sewing, actually. Knocked most of it out in one all nighter. Once I get going, it's hard to stop. The hardest part was planning/measuring/cutting everything just right and making sure I had all the pieces on where they needed to be before sewing up the whole pack.

A lot of fun and very very satisfying!

I'm taking it out on its inaugural hike today (Saturday). A short overnight snowshoeing trip to Paradise, Mt. Rainier. Gonna snowshoe around the area (very busy place, only our second time snowshoeing) then wander off away from the crowds to stay the night, probably near glacier vista or something. Lots and lots and lots of new snow dumped in the mountains of Washington the past couple of weeks. Excited!

[Justin Baker]

very tacticool.

[Sam Farrington]

Don't see many larger frameless backpacks that fit so snugly against the back. Nice.

[Steve B]

Nice looking pack. I wouldn't normally have choose that pattern of fabric, but surprisingly it looks really good. Mind changed on it. Agree with above poster, nice and snug against the back. Looks really comfortable.

Steve

[Steven Maxfield]

And E,
A simple way to solve your problem with your thread on a cone is to place the cone in a coffee can or similar type of can. Then place the can on your sew table. The can makes the thread feed from the top like it should. I used this system until I bought a thread stand from a fabric store. Fred

[Roger Caffin]

If you don't mount a cone properly, you get problems.

I took a block of wood and stuck a bit of dowel in the middle. I took a scrap of silnylon and impaled it on the dowel – to make a low-friction bearing face. Then I mounted the cone upside down on the dowel and put it behind the machine. Works fine.

Caution: if you are using a tightly-spun 100% polyester thread, life is more difficult. Those threads can kink much more easily than a poly-cotton thread. You may need to feed from the side of the cone carefully. Even so, the tension disks can also make for problems, twisting the thread.

Cheers
PS: nice curve around the back.

[David Scheidt]

Thread is put on spools one of two ways. It's either parallel wound, like bobbins are wound, or it's crosswound (thread makes an X pattern). Thread that's parallel wound is intended to be unwound off the side the of the spool. Cross wound thread is intended to come off the top of the cone. If you try and pull thread off of the side of a cross wound spool or cone, you get an extra twist in it. I suspect that's Roger's problem. Domestic machines often have a horizontally mounted spool pin to use cross wound thread on. No good for a big cone, of course. The coffee can or similar works fine, or you can get a proper stand. They're cheap: http://www.wawak.com/products/product.cfm/pid/6459/Thread-Stands-1-Cone-Holder/

Don't get a plastic one, they flop around too much.

There are a number of high quality threads that are only available in large cone put ups, so it's nice to be able to use them.

[Nick Smolinske]

I'm trying to picture a cone inside a coffee can. The cans I think of when I hear coffee are huge (like #10 size). Is that what you mean? That seems way too wide, wouldn't the cone just fall over and flop around? I don't drink coffee these days, so maybe the standard can has changed since the last time I paid any attention.

[And E]

Hearing home from Paradise! Lots of snow at Rainier, but the park staff keep the roads well maintained.

Snowshoed around the Paradise visitor center area for a few miles and made camp not that far from the center just to be safe. This was only our second trip in the snow, and first overnight with snowshoes, so we wanted to be close by especially on a night forecasted for 4-8" of snow and 27°F high/18°F low.

The pack carried like a dream. I did cut a piece of corplast (corrugated plastic sheet) with corrosion running vertically then heat bent it to follow my back curves. Pack stayed firmly in place and o hardly noticed I was carrying anything at all (only 17# pack with good and water and including pack itself). Also added a pair of removable hipbelt pockets with slick clips and uretek zippers, one of which is 3D mesh padded for my camera/cellphone, etc.

Only ended up snowing 2-3" and not sure how low it for exactly but I was toasty in my myog down quilt, which finally got it's first test/use. The condensation on our tarp tent double rainbow was frozen in places, so it was definitely cold.

[David Scheidt]

The cone should stand up on its own. the can or whatever is just to keep it from getting knocked around, and to encourage the thread to come off the top. If your drawing the thread straight up, which is how crosswound thread should be unspooled, there's little or no rotational force on the cone. My thread cones only rotate a tiny bit, and only when they're nearly empty and I'm sewing at 4000 stitches a minute. It's pulling off the side of a spool that gets them spinning.

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