dholdgreve wrote:A couple thoughts...Raleway wrote:"c. Participants may NOT bring any equipment such as levels or squares"
Why is that a thing...?
Having a level to check the plumb of the wall could create a reason for appeal, if the wall were out of plumb.
If the wall were out of plumb, the E/C would be faced with 2 choices: 1) adjust it accordingly, thus changing the parameters for all that follows, meaning those that went before the adjustment may be at a disadvantage, or 2) Leave it as is and continue testing, knowing that it is out of plumb, thus calling into question the entire legitimacy of the event. Neither are good answers. Sometime it is just better to not know.
Even if competitors checked to see if their boom was level, since you are not able to modify after check-in, the point is moot, and since a boom must be in 1 piece, shimming would / should not be allowed either.
Even if that's true, that's very disadvantageous to those who pursue high score designs. At that point, any deviation from the assumed "level" testing device is a much quicker failure. With my experience at States, the tables were NEVER level. However, we made sure to check this during impound as so we would not have an unfair advantage. In this way, it discourages those to try for ambitious designs which goes against the spirit of developing higher and higher scores. At one invitational where we did this, the ES checked the levelness after every few structures or at a request to ensure fairness- it was a simple adjustment of placing paper under the pegs. Just my two cents.
