General Questions

[Flavorflav]

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

Obviously thinner is better, but different kinds of line will have different melting points. Nylon is the highest of the line types as far as I know, about 250 degrees or so, so you could look for line sold as flourocarbon (175 degrees) or Dyneema (150 degrees). Or you could try steel, which melts at around 1370 degrees. Your choice.

[ROFLcopter]

ok thanks

[Sir_L_Jenkins]

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

you have to match the right size diameter of wire used to melt the string with the right voltage of battery, too little and it wont do anything, and too much it'll snap and burn,

[penclspinner]

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

too much it'll snap and burn

Uh, correct me if I'm wrong but isn't that the point of this module? To break the line?

[Dark Sabre]

I think he's talking about the nichrome breaking every run...

[Paradox21]

Wow, I have never even been able to get nichrome to split. I suppose I have reasonably thick pieces. Just get a used toaster from somewhere and cannibalize it for the nichrome wire. You can heat it to be red hot. I have mine hooked up to 4 D batteries and it works like a charm. Plus I have it hooked up to a relay so it turns off as soon as the fishing line breaks. That could be important...

[cypressfalls Robert]

Plus I have it hooked up to a relay so it turns off as soon as the fishing line breaks. That could be important...

Yea I left my nichhrome wire on for like two or three minutes and the wire wasn't red hot anymore, so i touched it and burned my self. Later i learned that the batteries were drained too.

[EastStroudsburg13]

Okay so our team does not have a Mission Possible device and our Regional competition is March 10, so I decided to try to design and help build one so our team at least has an entry. I was wondering if there are any tips on building it relatively quickly, like which components to include. Aside from the first and last tasks I was thinking about including a couple motors, the balloon, and the photocell, and not getting into much more depth than that, but I wanted some inside advice.

[Paradox21]

Okay so our team does not have a Mission Possible device and our Regional competition is March 10, so I decided to try to design and help build one so our team at least has an entry. I was wondering if there are any tips on building it relatively quickly, like which components to include. Aside from the first and last tasks I was thinking about including a couple motors, the balloon, and the photocell, and not getting into much more depth than that, but I wanted some inside advice.

I would just recommend starting really simply. There is no use putting in transfers that you won't get to work properly by the time competition comes around. They will only hurt you. I have actually seen a few designs that just had a flag pole attached to a mousetrap and they dropped a golf ball on it. I doubt you will be able to get all the transfers ready in time, so stick to the simple ones. I would avoid the photocell bonus, wind bonus, melting fishing line bonus, and possibly the balloon bonus. Another concern would be having enough time. I would try making things last a while to try to get close to 60 seconds. Odds are you won't have time to put in an adjustable time component.

[Flavorflav]

Make sure it is legal and reliable (no touches). A flagpole attached to a mousetrap got 7th at our regional because it had no penalties and got the completion bonus. As Paradox said, forget the photocell - make a motor move a mass for 40 seconds. It's not that hard to do and worth 135 points (25 for the task, 30 for the bonus, and 80 for coming closer to the ideal time). That's more than five times as much as any other component. Also, make sure your TSL is accurate and you don't go over time on the setup - that's another 150 points between them. If you have time, the golf ball and electromagnet aren't that hard, but you could probably medal in some regions with just the mousetrap, motor and flagpole.