Re: PICTURES, SCORES, VIDEOS!!

[michiganmarc]

Speaking of bad scales, RI states used an analog pound scale that looked like it was 50 years old to weigh boomilevers - they used the same scale to weigh the sand, too. I offered for them to borrow my 0.01 scale but they refused, and continued guessing weights (in pounds) . And that's how my 9g boomi was recorded as 22g...

FWIW, this is the scale we've been using for a couple years now:
https://www.amazon.com/Ohaus-SPX123-Por ... B01AJ089PS

We don't bother recording things to the milligram level, but it really helps in getting accurate readings for very light components and having a high confidence in the mass of our devices.

How do you guys have the budget to buy such an expensive scale?????

That is a horror story using a lb scale for boomis! My condolences!

I personally bought our expensive scale. Our team has a decent budget, but it's better used on other things.

[Chameleon02]

8th place with around 1100 division C for Umich invite. Unfortunately it broke just shy of full load.

[sneepity]

8th place with around 1100 division C for Umich invite. Unfortunately it broke just shy of full load.

how heavy were 1,2,3 places? also how heavy was yours?

[Chameleon02]

8th place with around 1100 division C for Umich invite. Unfortunately it broke just shy of full load.

how heavy were 1,2,3 places? also how heavy was yours?

mine was a conservative 13g. I actually did get to see some of the really good ones but those stats aren't mine to share. They held all and scored in the high 1000s to low 2000s.

[sneepity]

8th place with around 1100 division C for Umich invite. Unfortunately it broke just shy of full load.

how heavy were 1,2,3 places? also how heavy was yours?

mine was a conservative 13g. I actually did get to see some of the really good ones but those stats aren't mine to share. They held all and scored in the high 1000s to low 2000s.

:0 how did you make yours 13g mine is super heavy
anyone have any tips to make your design a little bit lighter? Its my first year doing this, lol

[Lorant]

how heavy were 1,2,3 places? also how heavy was yours?

mine was a conservative 13g. I actually did get to see some of the really good ones but those stats aren't mine to share. They held all and scored in the high 1000s to low 2000s.

:0 how did you make yours 13g mine is super heavy
anyone have any tips to make your design a little bit lighter? Its my first year doing this, lol

Select better, lighter wood, check for wood grain and density for maximum effectiveness, reduce the amount of glue you are using.

[sneepity]

mine was a conservative 13g. I actually did get to see some of the really good ones but those stats aren't mine to share. They held all and scored in the high 1000s to low 2000s.

:0 how did you make yours 13g mine is super heavy
anyone have any tips to make your design a little bit lighter? Its my first year doing this, lol

Select better, lighter wood, check for wood grain and density for maximum effectiveness, reduce the amount of glue you are using.

sorry for the question, but how do I check wood grain and density?

[michiganmarc]

:0 how did you make yours 13g mine is super heavy
anyone have any tips to make your design a little bit lighter? Its my first year doing this, lol

Select better, lighter wood, check for wood grain and density for maximum effectiveness, reduce the amount of glue you are using.

sorry for the question, but how do I check wood grain and density?

At this point in your progress, don't bother with worrying about wood grain or the amount of glue. The first step, once you have a reasonable design (check Google, and maybe most importantly, read theses forums from last year's boomi event; the rules were different, but many of the concepts still apply this year - for good general technique and process read the towers and bridges forums as well), focus on proper material selection. We like to cut (or buy) pieces to some normalized dimension - or actual dimension if you want, and create a "library" of materials. Accurately weigh every piece and record its mass on the piece itself. Balsa can easily have a 4x range in density. Within most of that range, strength will increase linearly, but at both ends of that curve it's not linear. The really light stuff, which feels almost spongy is not a good choice to use for anything really. For everything else, you'll have to figure out what the best mass/strength to use based on your specific design. That is the majority of the work for this event to compete at a high level.

A couple quick tips for basic boomi success. Make sure your build is symmetric with respect to material choice. If one side is using a 3g piece, make sure the other side is as close to that as possible. Build precision is extremely important. At the very least, build your device on graph paper pinned to cardboard. Even better, build an accurate jig to help get it as precise as possible. Also record everything that goes into your boomi wrt materials. dimensions, mass of components, etc. so you'll be able to reproduce the device and have a record of what you changed to get to your final build/design.

Good luck!! You will need to build a lot of devices to get really good, but everyone starts somewhere!

[dholdgreve]

Piqua Div C Invitational was last Saturday. Not sure what Solon's score was (#1) but #2 and #3 were both in the 1400's.

[Torchic]

(I forgot the weight xD)
Ended up at Rockford w/ 1st with a score of 2400ish, held full load
A good team that I won't disclose-but everyone can probably guess lol-ended up breaking at 12kg, but got 2nd and 3rd

At Woodlawn we ended up with holding 13 kg, score around 1450. Placed 3rd overall. Top scorer seemed to be around 2000ish (Marie Murphy :>)
Scores jumped so much from last yesr; I reccomend building to hold full, don't go for a lighter weight until it is necessary.