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I just joined this thing, so sorry if I do something wrong
Now the question

The rules say that the tower must be “constructed by wood and bonded by adhesive”
Even though it wouldn’t be too efficient, would you technically be allowed to make a tower made completely out of adhesive? For instance, since the rules allow cement, could you make a tower made completely of cement?
kinda related, does the rule mean adhesive must on.y be used to bond?

Pretty sure this has been discussed here before

A lot of information can be found by reading the towers forums of this year and last year.

That being said, as long as you have some wood, I don't see why not.

Why you care/ how this is feasible...I don't know

I think that the point of towers is to construct a primarily wood tower. This is just one of those common sense things.

WhatScience? wrote:Pretty sure this has been discussed here before

A lot of information can be found by reading the towers forums of this year and last year.

That being said, as long as you have some wood, I don't see why not.

Why you care/ how this is feasible...I don't know

You're on to the right question - why would anyone want to/think about building a tower just out of, or predominantly out of adhesive. For the same strength/load-holding capacity, an all adhesive tower would be A LOT heavier than a wood (w/glue) one.

I run towers at several competitions every year. My interpretation would be that the adhesive is to be used ONLY to bond (2) pieces of wood. It is not to be used to coat individual pieces, or take the place of individual pieces of wood. I'd need to tier a tower that is made entirely of adhesive as a construction violation, but even if I didn't, I'd agee with what has already been said, I don't think there is any way that a tower like this could be competitive.

See "How much of the tower can be constructed with adhesives?"

Visvix wrote:I just joined this thing, so sorry if I do something wrong
Now the question

The rules say that the tower must be “constructed by wood and bonded by adhesive”
Even though it wouldn’t be too efficient, would you technically be allowed to make a tower made completely out of adhesive? For instance, since the rules allow cement, could you make a tower made completely of cement?
kinda related, does the rule mean adhesive must on.y be used to bond?

I know cyanocrylate doesnt bond to plastics. I tried, for fun, 3d printing a mold in which we can pour cyanocrylate into it and see if it would dry. Despite the minimal amount of bracing, the glue is actually pretty strong. But it's actually pretty difficult to get it balanced and such. Sanding is key. As for efficiency goes, um, 400 points? I mean it took up like 1.5 bottles of 50 gram glue. And then, after it dried and we briefly sanded it down to make it more smooth and get rid of unnecesary glue, it ended up weighing about 35 ish grams. Got bonus and all. I honestly feel like for primary compression members, this thing would have some potential. Though, I would think that balsa wood is more efficient than large chunks of cyanocrylate.

dholdgreve wrote:I run towers at several competitions every year. My interpretation would be that the adhesive is to be used ONLY to bond (2) pieces of wood. It is not to be used to coat individual pieces, or take the place of individual pieces of wood. I'd need to tier a tower that is made entirely of adhesive as a construction violation, but even if I didn't, I'd agee with what has already been said, I don't think there is any way that a tower like this could be competitive.

Well the simple solution (if the competitor was going for the full glue scenario), is to just put two small pieces of wood with the glue. And somehow argue that they wanted to bond the two pieces that coincidentally shaped into a tower.

Random Human wrote:

dholdgreve wrote:I run towers at several competitions every year. My interpretation would be that the adhesive is to be used ONLY to bond (2) pieces of wood. It is not to be used to coat individual pieces, or take the place of individual pieces of wood. I'd need to tier a tower that is made entirely of adhesive as a construction violation, but even if I didn't, I'd agee with what has already been said, I don't think there is any way that a tower like this could be competitive.

Well the simple solution (if the competitor was going for the full glue scenario), is to just put two small pieces of wood with the glue. And somehow argue that they wanted to bond the two pieces that coincidentally shaped into a tower.

Hmmm... In the interest of giving every possible break to the competitor, I might even go as far as the 50% rule... if more than 50% of your tower (by visual inspection) is made of glue, you missed the mark.

dholdgreve wrote:

Random Human wrote:

dholdgreve wrote:I run towers at several competitions every year. My interpretation would be that the adhesive is to be used ONLY to bond (2) pieces of wood. It is not to be used to coat individual pieces, or take the place of individual pieces of wood. I'd need to tier a tower that is made entirely of adhesive as a construction violation, but even if I didn't, I'd agee with what has already been said, I don't think there is any way that a tower like this could be competitive.

Well the simple solution (if the competitor was going for the full glue scenario), is to just put two small pieces of wood with the glue. And somehow argue that they wanted to bond the two pieces that coincidentally shaped into a tower.

Hmmm... In the interest of giving every possible break to the competitor, I might even go as far as the 50% rule... if more than 50% of your tower (by visual inspection) is made of glue, you missed the mark.

Is there a rule saying that?