Scioly.org

Thank you...

baker wrote:How are super's measuring the height of the towers to make sure they are over 50 or 60 cm? Are they using a tape measure, stick. What's a safe way to do this?

I used a loading block and drilled the hole a bit bigger, then took a cheap carbon fiber target arrow, and slipped it into the block until exactly 50.00 CM stuck out from the bottom of the block, to the tip of the point. If the point touches the table, they are short.

I like that.
Safe/easy to use, straightforward to get to good precision.

I'd used an.... inverted U cut out of foam board before, but a pain to get it really precise.

Thanks everyone; your tips are really helpful (and necessary to someone with very little Scioly building experience!)

A follow-up question, slightly more specific: What would be a good table to purchase as part of the loading apparatus? I'm looking online and I just have no idea where to start, and what I should be looking for, what things work with adjustable footings, etc. Also ideally something that takes as little fiddling around with as possible, because I do not trust my hands to do anything with very much precision (which kind of led me to stay away from builds in general in the first place).

Balsa Man wrote:I strongly recommend having the chains which hang from load blocks marked (color magic marker) for where S-hook should go, for B and, 10cm lower, for C towers. This avoids buckets too close to the floor, and/or up high enough to interfere with sand spout. Have the hanging rig for the bucket…worked out and simple- a way to have an S-hook attached to the center of the bucket handle so it can’t move around.

Apologies, but I'm not entirely sure what you mean. Isn't the height of the chain dependent on how tall the towers are? Also, how do you recommend attaching the S-hook? I feel like bucket handles don't really fit those very well, so I'm not really grasping how that's done.

dholdgreve wrote:I used a loading block and drilled the hole a bit bigger, then took a cheap carbon fiber target arrow, and slipped it into the block until exactly 50.00 CM stuck out from the bottom of the block, to the tip of the point. If the point touches the table, they are short.

I'm having a little bit of trouble visualizing this; is the point physically touching the table, or just the plane through which the table would pass if there wasn't a hole there? Does that interfere with the chain at all?

Again, thanks for all the suggestions!

Yeah, the height of the chain is different for B and C, 10cm (as I noted).

There's a point, somewhere down the chain from the load block (and it depends on the leg height of your testing rig( where, let's say for a C/60cm tall tower, where if you hang the bucket, the bottom of it will be, oh 2, 3, 4" off the floor. If you mark that point on the chain (with one color), and you mark 10cm up the chain with another color, you....have B and C covered; S-hook goes through the marked link.
Couple options for S-hook to bucket; 1) steel wire, wrapped around metal bucket handle, at the ends of the plastic handle, long enough to make a ...slight V, with the apex above the center of the handle; 2) duct tape to position S-hook at the center of the bucket handle. If the S-hook is too small to.... accommodate the plastic handle, wrap a steel wire loop around the handle.

As to the load block with arrow to see if height meets spec. as I noted in my initial post, measuring to confirm if tower meets specs should be done at check-in (not on the test platform when they're setting up to test. So, on a hard/solid surface. To run both B and C towers, you'll need one w/ an arrow length of 50cm, one w/ 60cm. As Dan noted, if tip touches surface, tower is too short. There's no chain to be interfered with- center hole in the load block has an arrow through it, not an eyebolt with a chain hanging on it. Those load blocks are.....over with the test rigs; separate/different.

Last, as to suitable tables; I'd think there's a decent chance one or two of the teams coming to the event have test rigs; communicate, see if they could bring/provide. Building a decent test rig from scratch is....maybe more than you have time/money for.

EastStroudsburg13 wrote:

Balsa Man wrote:I strongly recommend having the chains which hang from load blocks marked (color magic marker) for where S-hook should go, for B and, 10cm lower, for C towers. This avoids buckets too close to the floor, and/or up high enough to interfere with sand spout. Have the hanging rig for the bucket…worked out and simple- a way to have an S-hook attached to the center of the bucket handle so it can’t move around.

Apologies, but I'm not entirely sure what you mean. Isn't the height of the chain dependent on how tall the towers are? Also, how do you recommend attaching the S-hook? I feel like bucket handles don't really fit those very well, so I'm not really grasping how that's done.

dholdgreve wrote:I used a loading block and drilled the hole a bit bigger, then took a cheap carbon fiber target arrow, and slipped it into the block until exactly 50.00 CM stuck out from the bottom of the block, to the tip of the point. If the point touches the table, they are short.

I'm having a little bit of trouble visualizing this; is the point physically touching the table, or just the plane through which the table would pass if there wasn't a hole there? Does that interfere with the chain at all?

Again, thanks for all the suggestions!

Aren't the competitors supposed to attach the S-hook?

My understanding of dholdgreve's height-measuring deivce. The tower is just placed on some flat surface prior to the competitors testing it.

Yes, they are
Understanding looks correct

chalker wrote:

dholdgreve wrote:
Rule #1... Never touch the student's tower, or anything connected to it. Let them move it to and from the scale, prep for set up etc.
Rule #2... Share with all assistants: Never touch the student's tower, or anything connected to it... period
Rule #3... Much more important in towers than bridges or boom. Testing table must be perfectly level and flat before the event begins
Rule #4... Try to provide a sand hopper (automatic Loader) if possible. It will speed up your event, and keep all on schedule.
Rule #5... Keep control, but make it fun for competitors as well as gallery.
Rule #6... Be consistent. If you start the 6:00 clock when the tower touches the table for the first team, do so through the entire competition
Rule #7... Review their score / tier with them when complete, so there is no unpleasant surprises at awards. Let them know if you've had to tier them down, and why.
Rule #8... Have plenty of help... knowledgeable help.
Rule #9... If possible, use medium grit sand blasting sand. It costs about double what play sand does, but has no dust in it. Your students will thank you, ans so will their pulminologist!
Rule #10.. Reread Rules 1 and 2.

Also, since I don't think it was mentioned yet, NEVER TOUCH A COMPETITORS TOWER;) Seriously, we can't emphasize that enough! That really applies to ANY event where the competitors bring something. Far too many event supervisors directly interact with devices and end up breaking them.

Regarding rule #7, note that that is explicitly written into the rules for almost all building events this year (rule 5.x.) in this case.

Whenever possible, ALWAYS let teams test their towers. Even if you know you are going to DQ them for something major. It's much easier to throw out a score than to have to go back and let them test something after an appeal.

Also, I HIGHLY recommend you use the excel scoring sheets and team data sheets available on the Towers event page on soinc.org

dholdgreve wrote:I used a loading block and drilled the hole a bit bigger, then took a cheap carbon fiber target arrow, and slipped it into the block until exactly 50.00 CM stuck out from the bottom of the block, to the tip of the point. If the point touches the table, they are short.

I'm having a little bit of trouble visualizing this; is the point physically touching the table, or just the plane through which the table would pass if there wasn't a hole there? Does that interfere with the chain at all?

Again, thanks for all the suggestions![/quote]

The block and arrow is used before testing to confirm tower height, not while testing. If the point of the arrow touches the table when dropped down through the tower, then the tower is too short. It is not checked on the actual testing table (that has a hole in it) but on the table next to the scale. If it is 50 CM tall on that table, it is 50 CM tall on the testing table.

Unome wrote:

EastStroudsburg13 wrote:

Balsa Man wrote:I strongly recommend having the chains which hang from load blocks marked (color magic marker) for where S-hook should go, for B and, 10cm lower, for C towers. This avoids buckets too close to the floor, and/or up high enough to interfere with sand spout. Have the hanging rig for the bucket…worked out and simple- a way to have an S-hook attached to the center of the bucket handle so it can’t move around.

Apologies, but I'm not entirely sure what you mean. Isn't the height of the chain dependent on how tall the towers are? Also, how do you recommend attaching the S-hook? I feel like bucket handles don't really fit those very well, so I'm not really grasping how that's done.

dholdgreve wrote:I used a loading block and drilled the hole a bit bigger, then took a cheap carbon fiber target arrow, and slipped it into the block until exactly 50.00 CM stuck out from the bottom of the block, to the tip of the point. If the point touches the table, they are short.

I'm having a little bit of trouble visualizing this; is the point physically touching the table, or just the plane through which the table would pass if there wasn't a hole there? Does that interfere with the chain at all?

Again, thanks for all the suggestions!

Aren't the competitors supposed to attach the S-hook?

My understanding of dholdgreve's height-measuring deivce. The tower is just placed on some flat surface prior to the competitors testing it.

exactly... Thanks for the sketch.