Towers B/C

[Adi1008]

Yes, it was Woodlawn. I think Daniel Wright got second, but I don't know their score. The efficiency was somewhere between 2500-3844 (sorry for being so unspecific).

Yes it was Woodlawn, their score is unbelievable

What state is Woodlawn in?

I believe Illinois

[sciencepeeps]

Yes it was Woodlawn, their score is unbelievable

What state is Woodlawn in?

I believe Illinois

Yup, Illinois

[321Kaboom]

What state is Woodlawn in?

I believe Illinois

Yup, Illinois

Woodlawn recieved a bid to state, so towers at state will be very challenging.

[Balsa Man]

Thank you Balsa Man.

Balsa Man: I'm not a balsa builder, but found your post incredibly helpful and not impossible to decipher. Thank You

.

Thanks, thought ....pulling the pieces together into one, current post might be helpful

[jgrischow1]

So I was watching Towers at a recent Regional. Unless I saw this wrong, a supervisor had his test base sitting there, got out a circular piece of paper (dia ~29 cm) with a ~20 x 20 cm hole in the middle, laid it on top of the test base, and traced the circle onto the test base. I thought this was odd because if the circle was exactly 29 cm, the resulting traced outline by definition had to be more than that. If he had calculated the exact width his pen mark would make and made the template small enough to result in a 29 cm circle when traced, well, then, good for him, but my kids' tower didn't fit the bonus circle even though it did the night before on our base (which I confirmed via ruler today). Again, I could have misinterpreted what he was doing, but I have two questions:

1. Is there anyway that circle could have been accurate?
2. Are the kids allowed to ask the circle to be measured?

[Unome]

So I was watching Towers at a recent Regional. Unless I saw this wrong, a supervisor had his test base sitting there, got out a circular piece of paper (dia ~29 cm) with a ~20 x 20 cm hole in the middle, laid it on top of the test base, and traced the circle onto the test base. I thought this was odd because if the circle was exactly 29 cm, the resulting traced outline by definition had to be more than that. If he had calculated the exact width his pen mark would make and made the template small enough to result in a 29 cm circle when traced, well, then, good for him, but my kids' tower didn't fit the bonus circle even though it did the night before on our base (which I confirmed via ruler today). Again, I could have misinterpreted what he was doing, but I have two questions:

1. Is there anyway that circle could have been accurate?
2. Are the kids allowed to ask the circle to be measured?

This is actually exactly what I did to draw the bonus circle on my school's test base at the beginning of the year, although my paper was printed out in four pieces and taped together, and I made sure to account for pencil line width. You can probably ask that the circle be measured, but probably nothing will come of it even if it's discovered to be inaccurate (at least that's what would happen where I am, not sure how your tournament will respond).

[Tesel]

So I built a pretty good tower, 9.1kg and bonus with 7.7g but the failure point surprised me. It broke at the very top ladder on both of the towers I tested today (the other one held 9.1kg with 9.62g, so I know what the failure point is pretty accurately). I'm wondering what to do to fix this. Should I use heavier wood? Should these ladders be in direct contact with the block or not? Any other tips tor reduce the high compressive forces here?

[Unome]

So I built a pretty good tower, 9.1kg and bonus with 7.7g but the failure point surprised me. It broke at the very top ladder on both of the towers I tested today (the other one held 9.1kg with 9.62g, so I know what the failure point is pretty accurately). I'm wondering what to do to fix this. Should I use heavier wood? Should these ladders be in direct contact with the block or not? Any other tips tor reduce the high compressive forces here?

Since the ladder is intended to take primarily horizontal compression, what if you placed it on top of the legs instead? This would (maybe?) allow the load to act as a compression force on the legs, rather than shearing the ladder.

[Raleway]

So I built a pretty good tower, 9.1kg and bonus with 7.7g but the failure point surprised me. It broke at the very top ladder on both of the towers I tested today (the other one held 9.1kg with 9.62g, so I know what the failure point is pretty accurately). I'm wondering what to do to fix this. Should I use heavier wood? Should these ladders be in direct contact with the block or not? Any other tips tor reduce the high compressive forces here?

Maybe you could try shortening the bracing distance at the top- Euler's states that gives it more BS

[Alke]

Tessel,

I would butt-joint in between the legs in place of lap joints. For me, I am putting my ladders below the loading block. You need to take into account the sanding of where the loading block comes into contact to make it even. Sanding your ladders may cause them to pre-maturely fail.

Good luck!