Ongoing Contest(Scores)

[UQOnyx]

Hold up though... Everything is true, but isn't it safe to assume that the score will be over 2000. After all, last time booms ran, from what I can glean, there was a single school with an efficiency over 2000. What stops them from doing it again? Oh, and also, even though there are no pictures on the interned sadly other schools saw the design, and they can replicate it or tweak it to make it better.

[Balsa Man]

Hold up though... Everything is true, but isn't it safe to assume that the score will be over 2000. After all, last time booms ran, from what I can glean, there was a single school with an efficiency over 2000. What stops them from doing it again? Oh, and also, even though there are no pictures on the interned sadly other schools saw the design, and they can replicate it or tweak it to make it better.

Hence my comment about "institutional knowledge." Somebody knows how it was designed and built.
As to folk that saw it, basic configuration could certainly guide you down a path, and you'd know what was possible with that configuration. Being able to duplicate from just seeing at a distance, not likely. If you were able to handle it, look at it closely, you'd have a lot better idea, and be able to get....closer. If you were able to sit there and watch the assembly process, then you'd have a decent shot. In many cases, the how of assembly- which you cannot see in the finished product- is a key to how it performs....

[UQOnyx]

Well anyways.. I have probably settled upon a design for boomilevers. Our regionals in NJ are in less than a month and I am preparing the last few trial ones before making a few final ones for states. Our design is fairly below 15 g, not too too low either but pretty good iA but I can't tell for competitive sake, and will most likely hold 15 kg. It is fairly simple and all I am saying is that the compression is made of bass

[geewhiz]

Just got the results from the Bay Area SO regionals yesterday -- the winner of Division B was a 7.5g beam that held 12.01 kg for efficiency of almost 1600! I was privileged to be there yesterday during their run and the room broke out into applause. Don't want to give away details of the design, but it's an indication of what is possible...

BTW, that winner will not be going to state and therefore not be going to nationals... still hope for the rest of us!

[dholdgreve]

Hold up though... Everything is true, but isn't it safe to assume that the score will be over 2000. After all, last time booms ran, from what I can glean, there was a single school with an efficiency over 2000. What stops them from doing it again? Oh, and also, even though there are no pictures on the interned sadly other schools saw the design, and they can replicate it or tweak it to make it better.

I believe that building the perfect Boomilever is as much about technique as it is design. Yes, you can see (and copy) a design from a distance, but copying the techniques used to build it is impossible unless you stood there and watched them... As Len has eluded to in the past, there are things that can be done during the built to ensure a much better structure that are not necessarily evident by looking at the finished product.

[UQOnyx]

Yeah that is true. Someone may have the same design as me, and yet use better techniques and better wood, and may beat us. That happened to us at regionals that there was a team with a design VERY similar to us, but we probably used better wood or whatnot and got a better score.

UPDATE: Today, I just tested my design. We got an efficiency score of about 600, and we are celebrating. I know 600 is a bad score BUT the reason why we are celebrating is because NOTHING broke (well almost nothing) What happened was that there was a bit of the gorilla glue foam on the back of the boom base that was sticking out. I sanded it quickly but not completely because I wanted to test badly. So when We were testing and tightening the bolt, I heard a little crack from the base. After inspecting it I saw no fault, but there was obviously something messed up. So when the boom broke, Literally all that happened was that the boom split from literally the halfway point between the gorilla glue and and the other side. Lesson learned: FIX YOUR BASE

[soinc9876]

Let's say I have a boomilever which weighs 20 grams and it can hold the whole 15kg; will that bring me good results at states? Should I try to reduce the weight to 10-15 grams? Keep in mind that I live in Ohio and wouldn't dare dream of beating Solon or Mentor .

[iwonder]

In ohio that probably won't get you very far. I'm from texas, but I'm aiming for 10g at states.

[havenguy]

Let's say I have a boomilever which weighs 20 grams and it can hold the whole 15kg; will that bring me good results at states? Should I try to reduce the weight to 10-15 grams? Keep in mind that I live in Ohio and wouldn't dare dream of beating Solon or Mentor .

10-12 grams holding the whole bucket should get you a medal in most states, even Ohio. However, 15 grams and over probably won't.

[cngu23]

Mass: 4.6 grams
Mass Held: 1220 grams
Efficiency: 263

Apparently, I had the lightest boomilever at the regional competition. Wasn't that beneficial unless I could somehow get it to carry at least 4000 grams.