General Questions

[thepotato]

do they actually deduct the 50 just for smoke?

[cypressfalls Robert]

it would be considered leaving the device

[thepotato]

man, your judges must be really harsh. I used string as the mono, steel wool for the resistance, and a brushless motor, but the judge didnt mind.
and I had smoke

[courage7856]

man, your judges must be really harsh. I used string as the mono, steel wool for the resistance, and a brushless motor, but the judge didnt mind.
and I had smoke

Okay, that's what I thought you were doing (more or less). We had smoke too, and the judge was like, "Is that okay? Your device is smoking." We said that it happened all the time, and the guy just shrugged and didn't seem to care. Our coaches and our varisty counterparts (who competed right before us) were cracking up.

I just realized I called steel wool monofilament. Wow. I really am tired after state.

[Uncle Fester]

OLD RULES stated that small amounts of smoke and odor were okay. All those years, three Missions flat-out ON FIRE (flames licking up the sides) and countless mostly-odor devices, and I never assessed the penalty. Why? Because smoke, stink and fires are fun, that's why. Free publicity, too. And when is it "excessive"? When even the BDU dogs are running for the door?

It really isn't addressed in this year's rules-- sort of. I won't encourage the burning steel wool, though, because candles are banned. Nat'l Sup himself also said, "no flames". Argue all you want about whether burning steel wool has flames or not (maybe reconsider after looking at under IR and UV light-- surprise!), but at almost all tournaments, you can't appeal a safety issue. How well do you know your event sup? A sympathetic sup can over look a few strands of steel wool without risking career & reputation, but a wad the size of a bar of Irish Spring is a different matter-- another coach sees and arbitrates, and it's suddenly out of the event sup's hands.

All tournaments where I have final say are done, and I have otehr issues to deal with; maybe a clarification needs to be sent in by someone (don't mention IR or UV observcation, though!). I AM curious, however, as to how it works out, bothy clarification and actual tournaments.

[thepotato]

OLD RULES stated that small amounts of smoke and odor were okay. All those years, three Missions flat-out ON FIRE (flames licking up the sides) and countless mostly-odor devices, and I never assessed the penalty. Why? Because smoke, stink and fires are fun, that's why. Free publicity, too. And when is it "excessive"? When even the BDU dogs are running for the door?

It really isn't addressed in this year's rules-- sort of. I won't encourage the burning steel wool, though, because candles are banned. Nat'l Sup himself also said, "no flames". Argue all you want about whether burning steel wool has flames or not (maybe reconsider after looking at under IR and UV light-- surprise!), but at almost all tournaments, you can't appeal a safety issue. How well do you know your event sup? A sympathetic sup can over look a few strands of steel wool without risking career & reputation, but a wad the size of a bar of Irish Spring is a different matter-- another coach sees and arbitrates, and it's suddenly out of the event sup's hands.

All tournaments where I have final say are done, and I have otehr issues to deal with; maybe a clarification needs to be sent in by someone (don't mention IR or UV observcation, though!). I AM curious, however, as to how it works out, bothy clarification and actual tournaments.

at regionals, the judge didn't mind and won
I sent the clarification to soinc.org on saturday, so hopefully i'll hear back soon.

[cypressfalls Robert]

OMG,OMG,OMG,OMG, states is only one week away, and I have concentrated most of my time on timming the shaft turny thingy , it only goes for 50 seconds and the rest of the device goes for only about 10, can someone please tell me a quick solution for something else I can make to increase time? please I need help bad!!!

[jazzy009]

OMG,OMG,OMG,OMG, states is only one week away, and I have concentrated most of my time on timming the shaft turny thingy , it only goes for 50 seconds and the rest of the device goes for only about 10, can someone please tell me a quick solution for something else I can make to increase time? please I need help bad!!!

any chance you can decrease the voltage on anything? what's your moving mass?

[Balsa Man]

Yup, decreasing voltage will slow the motor down. Depending on the voltage its rated for, and what you're running now, that might not work.

If you're by chance winding a string around the shaft to move the mass, gearing it down (gears for RC cars from the hobby store) will work; also reducing diameter of shaft in the area where you're winding string, and getting the string size down sa small as possible will help.

[cypressfalls Robert]

its the old wingnut trick, I got the motor from a garage sale, literllay it was a cordless drill motor, just the motor. so i don't know the actual voltage recomended, were using a 6 volt right now, and after using a voltmeter have found it is only at 5.92. Is a voltage regulator allowed? becasue i think that might help.