Towers B/C

[Balsa Man]

I've already seen a few C towers carrying the full load at 9 grams... I think as the season progresses, we may see teams pushing the envelope (and safely factors) and getting C towers down to 7.5 to 8 gram ranges, picking up the bonus, and carrying full load. I think there may be a few special B towers that will do the same in the 6 gram range.

Yeah, I can see getting to those ranges

[hearthstone224]

Hey everyone I'm having trouble understanding this tool used for angle iron? I'm confused where the angle iron is placed when "underside" is mentioned. Is my diagram sort of correct?

I'm pretty lost in the angle iron placement and the reasons behind it. How does the angle iron get placed down?

And that should say front view of tool, not side view. Sry about that.

Thanks.

[hearthstone224]

I'm drawing this from these directions here:

The easiest way to get that alignment right is to build a little tool to build a bigger tool (the jig). You can do this by taking a, oh, 15-20cm piece of 1/8 x 1/8 (bass, or fairly high density balsa). Call it stick #1. Put down a piece of waxed paper on a smooth working surface. Cut two pieces, oh around 15cm (sticks #2, and #3). Cut one end on each of these at a roughly 10 degree angle. Lay stick #1 down on the waxed paper. Take stick #2, glue the angled end to the side of stick #1, a cm or two above the bottom end, so it is angled up toward the top end of stick #1. Now, you want to glue stick #3 onto stick onto stick #1so it’s angled end hits stick #1 at the same place stick #2 is attached. It glues onto the adjacent face, i.e., is pointing upward, pointing 90 degrees from stick #2. Use a square, pushed up against the side of stick #1 to align it vertically- perpendicular to the upper face of stick #1. Both sticks #2 and #3are angled up toward one end of stick #1, but the angle between them is 90 degrees. This may not seem to make sense just reading, but when you do it, it will.


So, how to use this new tool. Take a piece of angle iron you’ve cut to go between two bracing points. Hold it up against stick #1, above the point where sticks #2 and #3 come in, on the ‘under side’ of stick #1, so its inside of the 90 degree angle sticks #2 and #3 form. Put stick #1 against one panel, with the bottom of the angle iron a bit above one of the brace points. You’ll find that sticks #2 and #3 reach out and touch the outsides of the two adjacent legs to the one you’re working on, and that aligns the diagonal cross-section of stick #1 with the centerline of the tower, and aligns the angle iron that you have on the underside of stick #1. After you’ve seen/felt this alignment, run glue along the stretch of the plate where the angle iron contacts it, push your stick tool with angle iron piece against the plate like you did before; when the glue sets, bingo, perfectly aligned leg holder section is done. Repeat for other sections of the leg, repeat for the other three legs. Now, you have a jig ready to build towers with. Figure 3 hrs to get all your measurements worked out and accurately marked, clearance cutting of the plate edges at the right points, an hour to get your stick tool right, and ½ hr per side to glue the angle iron pieces all on; up to 16hr…

[hearthstone224]

Actually I think it might be a bit confusing what I'm confused on, so I'll just word it simply:

I'm not sure what role the angle iron is supposed to play and how it is placed.

Can you explain what diagonal cross-section of the leg points means? What I imagine is the angle iron like this
_
\ \
\ \
\ \
\ \
__
(imagine this going diagonally it won't show up as it but if you hit quote you'll see what I mean)

and then a stick riding in it all the way to the top because after all angle iron is bent at 90 degrees so you can put something in it, example is like this:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KyoGFXXWpMk/maxresdefault.jpg

and it being glued onto the diagonal that is 3/32 inch long. Can you explain what it means when the diagonal cross section aligns to the center of the tower?

Quote:

"We've used 3/32" plexiglass (also fm Home Depot) to cut the panels out of. The one additional thing you need to deal with using this approach is that it is the corners of the leg pieces (not the flat side) that go up against the edge of the panel. Hobby Town sells small brass (and plastic) angle iron. With pieces of this glued on the leg edge of the panels, so the diagonal cross section of the leg points to the center of the tower, its easy to tape the legs in position, then put your bracing in to connect the legs. It takes some time to get it precisely put together- and it is really important to get it precise, but when done, it makes assembly a piece of cake..."

[Balsa Man]

Actually I think it might be a bit confusing what I'm confused on, so I'll just word it simply:

I'm not sure what role the angle iron is supposed to play and how it is placed.

Can you explain what diagonal cross-section of the leg points means? What I imagine is the angle iron like this
_
\ \
\ \
\ \
\ \
__
(imagine this going diagonally it won't show up as it but if you hit quote you'll see what I mean)

and then a stick riding in it all the way to the top because after all angle iron is bent at 90 degrees so you can put something in it, example is like this:
-
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/KyoGFXXWpMk/maxresdefault.jpg

and it being glued onto the diagonal that is 3/32 inch long. Can you explain what it means when the diagonal cross section aligns to the center of the tower?

Quote:

"We've used 3/32" plexiglass (also fm Home Depot) to cut the panels out of. The one additional thing you need to deal with using this approach is that it is the corners of the leg pieces (not the flat side) that go up against the edge of the panel. Hobby Town sells small brass (and plastic) angle iron. With pieces of this glued on the leg edge of the panels, so the diagonal cross section of the leg points to the center of the tower, its easy to tape the legs in position, then put your bracing in to connect the legs. It takes some time to get it precisely put together- and it is really important to get it precise, but when done, it makes assembly a piece of cake..."

Hopefully, the attached set of drawings - a "picture being worth a thousand words," will resolve any confusion ('cause I'm confused trying to follow your words...)

Angle iron tool dwg.xlsx

(14.72 KiB) Downloaded 153 times

[baker]

To bad 'Jig Building' isn't an event....

[hearthstone224]

To bad 'Jig Building' isn't an event....

I wish.. Then I could get better at this stuff

I mean am I the only one confused on this?

I'd be the worst WIDI teammate ever

[kinghong1970]

hearthstone,

sorry, did not read entire thread but is it your intention to build a frame or jig so that you can build the tower upon it?
are you trying to make a 3D jig of a flat jig to assemble one side at a time?

[hearthstone224]

Yeah the jig is so that I can build the tower upon it. It's going to be a lot easier to build multiple towers on. After all, I'm probably going to build more than one tower and it will be nice to have something to build it on.

I'm not sure what your second question means, but I'm going to cut panels and connects them to a steel bar in the center, which somehow uses angle iron in the mix to connect sides of the tower and brace it. I'm still trying to understand the details. If you go back in the thread, there is a lot of information around pages 5-7. Other people's ideas are probably better explained than this and that should help you see what I'm trying to do.

[noobforce]

Balsa Man,

I really like your approach to this year's jig. However, how do you make the jig last through the season? How do you prevent the plexiglas from warping, or would this not be an issue? Wouldn't the glue connecting the trapezoidal jig plates and the angle irons weaken over time, making it much easier to accidently break the angle iron? If so, what kinds of glue would best prevent deterioration?

noobforce