General Questions

[cypressfalls Robert]

would thread count as monofilamentline or does it has to be fishing line?

[Primate]

Is MP a 3 person event?

Also, anyone who has done the event before, how did you create more surface area on your device? Just add boards vertical or horizontal?

since i have been in scioly i thought it was 2, although i did remember some teams having 3 go up for medals...

Nope, it's anywhere from one to three. Just look at the team heading on the top of the rules page.

[Dark Sabre]

would thread count as monofilamentline or does it has to be fishing line?

A lot, if not most, of sewing "thread" is actually two or more threads that have been woven/spun together. If you roll a piece of thread between your fingers, particularly at the end, you can probably get it to visibly split. Or if you have a magnifying glass, just take a look at what you are using.

This is in contrast to a piece of plastic fishing line. If you took a cross-section of fishing line, you would find no boundaries. The whole cross-section is contiguous.

So I would argue that most sewing thread is not a monofilament, as it is composed of multiple filaments that you could pull apart with tweezers, if you were so inclined.

That said, I believe that the idea of the bonus is to work with a very thin piece of something. If I have to get a magnifying glass out to tell if something is monofilament or not, I'd probably let it go. I'm also not your judge.

Plastic fishing line or something else that is truly a monofilament is the safest bet. There are monofilament sewing threads; I used to buy some shiny plastic thread for my mother when I was a wee tot...it was structured like extremely thin/small plastic ribbon. I'm sure there are other examples too. The thread you have on hand might be a monofilament, but you would have to check it with a magnifying glass.

[cypressfalls Robert]

I used to buy some shiny plastic thread for my mother when I was a wee tot

ok so I've got both the Invisible thread and the Regular sewing thread. The "plastic thread" doesn't really hold as much weight(not even 100 g) as the regular thread does so maybe fishing line should be good.....thanks, now i can finish my mission!

[Uncle Fester]

For us "old head" Mission judges, determining if a "thread" was monofilament, cotton, or whatever is actually quite easy. harkens back to the days where we had to be picky about knowing of the line was burned or melted-- two totally different "transfers" (chemical or thermal, respectively). We'd look at the ends closely, and see if it was either darkened from burning or shiny from melting. Either way, multi-filament is actually easier to identify afterwards--- the two/three/four strands really stand out.

There's really, really lightweight fishing line out there, like one or two pound test at the cheap stores, and even at grocery stores. For some reason, most Missions have used hefty 25 pount test, or higher! THINK WEAK. if you're as cheap as I am (hard to imagine anyone cheaper; i once bought a cellphone at a penny sale using a penny from the 'leave-a-penny/take-a-penny jar), just find someone who fishes nd ask them for a few feet.

[aubrey048]

Would steel wool be considered a monofilament? You can burn it with a battery . . .

[Dark Sabre]

A single filament of steel wool would be a monofilament, yes.
A bundle of steel wool would not be a monofilament.
You would have to try, but I'm not sure how much of a mass a single strand of steel wool would suspend.

I realized I should have addressed this in my last post, but the bonus specifies that you melt a monofilament. Both of the threads that cypressfalls_Robert linked to were 100% polyester, which was probably intentional. Polyester/Acrylic/PVC/other plastics all melt. Natural fibers like cotton/wool burn.

Fishing line is so easy...cheap...strong...common...

[ROFLcopter]

So a single piece of steel wool is the best way to go? or is there a better option

[penclspinner]

So a single piece of steel wool is the best way to go? or is there a better option

Fishing line is so easy...cheap...strong...common...

Go with fishing line.

[ROFLcopter]

ok but we've tried fishing line and couldn't get it to melt