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Balsa Man wrote:

baker wrote:[quote="Balsa ManNo pics at this point, but a quick set of numbers to consider, and check your numbers against:
From design calcs- for a tower weight of just over 8gr; legs fm 1.45 gr/36" at 3.26gr; ladders (using 1/4 bracing interval - 0.9gr/36" for lowest ladder, 0.8gr/36 for ones above it) at 1.71gr; Xs at 2.19gr (3/32nds" wide x 1/64th" thick, from 9.5 gr 3" x 36" sheet), and glue a bit under 1gr.

Now this sounds aggressive. I'm tempted to build this. Is this 'C' rules and bonus?

No, B rules w/ bonus. For C, aggressive, same weight estimating calc numbers are 8.7gr tower; 3.75gr legs (1.4gr/36"); 2.28 ladders, using 1/5 interval bracing- 1gr/36" for the lowest, 0.8gr/36 for higher ones, 1.6gr for Xs (1/16 x 1/64, from 7.5gr 3 x 36" sheet), and 1.1 gr glue[/quote]

What is the height for 'B'?

baker wrote:

Balsa Man wrote:

baker wrote:[quote="Balsa ManNo pics at this point, but a quick set of numbers to consider, and check your numbers against:
From design calcs- for a tower weight of just over 8gr; legs fm 1.45 gr/36" at 3.26gr; ladders (using 1/4 bracing interval - 0.9gr/36" for lowest ladder, 0.8gr/36 for ones above it) at 1.71gr; Xs at 2.19gr (3/32nds" wide x 1/64th" thick, from 9.5 gr 3" x 36" sheet), and glue a bit under 1gr.

Now this sounds aggressive. I'm tempted to build this. Is this 'C' rules and bonus?

No, B rules w/ bonus. For C, aggressive, same weight estimating calc numbers are 8.7gr tower; 3.75gr legs (1.4gr/36"); 2.28 ladders, using 1/5 interval bracing- 1gr/36" for the lowest, 0.8gr/36 for higher ones, 1.6gr for Xs (1/16 x 1/64, from 7.5gr 3 x 36" sheet), and 1.1 gr glue

What is the height for 'B'?[/quote]

50cm (vs 60 for C)

Thank you all for responding to me, love the feedback. yeah, when I tested my towers, they all broke by "exploding", pieces flying everywhere.I use one universal sized balsa, but recently ordered some smaller balsa from specializedbalsa. should arrive soon.

embokim wrote:Thank you all for responding to me, love the feedback. yeah, when I tested my towers, they all broke by "exploding", pieces flying everywhere.I use one universal sized balsa, but recently ordered some smaller balsa from specializedbalsa. should arrive soon.

Just fyi, I notice I didn't state size on legs and ladders in the stick weights I provided above- 1/8" x 1/8"

I was wondering what a good score for Division B is. Most recently we have gotten around 200 without an attempt to the bonus. We are located in Illinois which has competitive tower teams and was wondering how to get a better score.

Iso_45678 wrote:I was wondering what a good score for Division B is. Most recently we have gotten around 200 without an attempt to the bonus. We are located in Illinois which has competitive tower teams and was wondering how to get a better score.

Maybe try to post a picture of your tower first for tips and advice? How much did your tower weigh and how much did it hold? To be honest, right now a score of 200 is a bit low, competitive teams are getting scores of above 2000 and that's for Div. C, usually Div B scores should be higher. I suggest maybe looking at some other designs to reduce weight and increase your efficiency.

Iso_45678 wrote:I was wondering what a good score for Division B is. Most recently we have gotten around 200 without an attempt to the bonus. We are located in Illinois which has competitive tower teams and was wondering how to get a better score.

If you are looking for a better score:
Does your tower hold all the weight? If so, it is likely over-built, and too heavy to perform efficiently. Try reducing the thickness of the wood, amount of bracings, etc. to reduce the mass. After all, every kilogram that the tower holds above 15kg is more or less "wasted strength."

If it is a light tower, but breaking after holding very little mass, then consider, as JojoCho said, posting a picture.

But, unfortunately, 200 is a relatively low score for a Division B tower... No worries though! You have plenty of time to improve your tower and bring up its performance!

I know it'll take a... significant time investment to go back to the beginning of all the threads here in the Towers forum, and read through everything; lots of threads, lots of pages, but if you do, you'll find and be able to pull together almost a text book on how to design and build a really good tower - scoring 1500 to 2000+; and there is lots of detail- exactly how to settle on a design, how to select wood that'll be light, and will work, how to build so it's precise, symmetrical, and will hold together at or near full load. That's a long way from where you're at right now. The best thing you can do right now to jump ahead is take the time to digest the info's that's been built up here. This is honestly the best/most important tip/recommendation anyone can give you at this point.

Yes, reducing wood (cross-sectional) size, and reducing wood density, and decreasing amount/weight of bracing, and decreasing glue weight will all help. But unless you have.....a correct understanding framework from which to figure out and understand those changes, you'll be shooting in the dark.

I encourage you to go for it, and hope you do, and can get to a much higher level

Clueless Builder wrote:I'm C.

My newest tower held 15kg at 6.4g.

Could you post a picture of this design? Very Curious to see what it would look like.

For some reason, when i test my towers i get scores of around 1,100 yet when i take my towers to competitions they get scores of about 400-500.