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Re: General Questions
Posted: April 11th, 2010, 3:42 pm
by thepotato
do they actually deduct the 50 just for smoke?
Re: General Questions
Posted: April 11th, 2010, 3:57 pm
by cypressfalls Robert
it would be considered leaving the device
Re: General Questions
Posted: April 11th, 2010, 4:06 pm
by thepotato
man, your judges must be really harsh. I used string as the mono, steel wool for the resistance, and a brushless motor, but the judge didnt mind.
and I had smoke
Re: General Questions
Posted: April 11th, 2010, 6:18 pm
by courage7856
thepotato wrote:man, your judges must be really harsh. I used string as the mono, steel wool for the resistance, and a brushless motor, but the judge didnt mind.
and I had smoke
Okay, that's what I thought you were doing (more or less). We had smoke too, and the judge was like, "Is that okay? Your device is smoking." We said that it happened all the time, and the guy just shrugged and didn't seem to care. Our coaches and our varisty counterparts (who competed right before us) were cracking up.
I just realized I called steel wool monofilament. Wow. I really am tired after state.
Re: General Questions
Posted: April 12th, 2010, 6:54 pm
by Uncle Fester
OLD RULES stated that small amounts of smoke and odor were okay. All those years, three Missions flat-out ON FIRE (flames licking up the sides) and countless mostly-odor devices, and I never assessed the penalty. Why? Because smoke, stink and fires are fun, that's why. Free publicity, too. And when is it "excessive"? When even the BDU dogs are running for the door?
It really isn't addressed in this year's rules-- sort of. I won't encourage the burning steel wool, though, because candles are banned. Nat'l Sup himself also said, "no flames". Argue all you want about whether burning steel wool has flames or not (maybe reconsider after looking at under IR and UV light-- surprise!), but at almost all tournaments, you can't appeal a safety issue. How well do you know your event sup? A sympathetic sup can over look a few strands of steel wool without risking career & reputation, but a wad the size of a bar of Irish Spring is a different matter-- another coach sees and arbitrates, and it's suddenly out of the event sup's hands.
All tournaments where I have final say are done, and I have otehr issues to deal with; maybe a clarification needs to be sent in by someone (don't mention IR or UV observcation, though!). I AM curious, however, as to how it works out, bothy clarification and actual tournaments.
Re: General Questions
Posted: April 12th, 2010, 7:25 pm
by thepotato
Uncle Fester wrote:OLD RULES stated that small amounts of smoke and odor were okay. All those years, three Missions flat-out ON FIRE (flames licking up the sides) and countless mostly-odor devices, and I never assessed the penalty. Why? Because smoke, stink and fires are fun, that's why. Free publicity, too. And when is it "excessive"? When even the BDU dogs are running for the door?
It really isn't addressed in this year's rules-- sort of. I won't encourage the burning steel wool, though, because candles are banned. Nat'l Sup himself also said, "no flames". Argue all you want about whether burning steel wool has flames or not (maybe reconsider after looking at under IR and UV light-- surprise!), but at almost all tournaments, you can't appeal a safety issue. How well do you know your event sup? A sympathetic sup can over look a few strands of steel wool without risking career & reputation, but a wad the size of a bar of Irish Spring is a different matter-- another coach sees and arbitrates, and it's suddenly out of the event sup's hands.
All tournaments where I have final say are done, and I have otehr issues to deal with; maybe a clarification needs to be sent in by someone (don't mention IR or UV observcation, though!). I AM curious, however, as to how it works out, bothy clarification and actual tournaments.
at regionals, the judge didn't mind and won

I sent the clarification to soinc.org on saturday, so hopefully i'll hear back soon.
Re: General Questions
Posted: April 15th, 2010, 7:49 pm
by cypressfalls Robert
Re: General Questions
Posted: April 16th, 2010, 10:09 am
by jazzy009
any chance you can decrease the voltage on anything? what's your moving mass?
Re: General Questions
Posted: April 16th, 2010, 1:10 pm
by Balsa Man
Yup, decreasing voltage will slow the motor down. Depending on the voltage its rated for, and what you're running now, that might not work.
If you're by chance winding a string around the shaft to move the mass, gearing it down (gears for RC cars from the hobby store) will work; also reducing diameter of shaft in the area where you're winding string, and getting the string size down sa small as possible will help.
Re: General Questions
Posted: April 16th, 2010, 3:46 pm
by cypressfalls Robert
its the old wingnut trick, I got the motor from a garage sale, literllay it was a cordless drill motor, just the motor. so i don't know the actual voltage recomended, were using a 6 volt right now, and after using a voltmeter have found it is only at 5.92. Is a voltage regulator allowed? becasue i think that might help.