Designs

[flyingwatermelon]

Anyone have any tips with how to deal with "cracked balsa". I bought some wood only to find out that some sections of the wood were diseased? or fractured and literally had a huge gash through it.

Refund?

Is there a way to like patch it up though? It's already been integrated into my tower...luckily this isn't going to be the competition one but just curious.

[hpfananu]

So a few weeks ago I was watching that old Towers video that's in the SOINC store. There's one section where someone analyzes some of the first towers at the ?1994 competition. What was kind of interesting was that this person said that you should have bracings all meet at one point, similar to this.
(Mind the awful image but I think you can understand the idea)
Wouldn't this leave a lot of the section of the other legs unbraced? If this was done all around.
Instead, would

be beneficial instead? It doesn't leave more of the leg unbraced but they don't all meet at one point. Thoughts?

[flyingwatermelon]

So a few weeks ago I was watching that old Towers video that's in the SOINC store. There's one section where someone analyzes some of the first towers at the ?1994 competition. What was kind of interesting was that this person said that you should have bracings all meet at one point, similar to this.
(Mind the awful image but I think you can understand the idea)
Wouldn't this leave a lot of the section of the other legs unbraced? If this was done all around.
Instead, would

be beneficial instead? It doesn't leave more of the leg unbraced but they don't all meet at one point. Thoughts?

Yes. Technically having all the braces meet at one point is stronger but that doesn't mean its more efficient.

If I think about it conceptually, the one with all around braces is likely to be more efficient because although it has lower strength, it can be braced at shorter intervals without increasing the weight by a great deal.

If you really want to have the bracings all meet at one point and have superior strength, just go with X's.

[noobforce]

So a few weeks ago I was watching that old Towers video that's in the SOINC store. There's one section where someone analyzes some of the first towers at the ?1994 competition. What was kind of interesting was that this person said that you should have bracings all meet at one point, similar to this.
(Mind the awful image but I think you can understand the idea)
Wouldn't this leave a lot of the section of the other legs unbraced? If this was done all around.
Instead, would

be beneficial instead? It doesn't leave more of the leg unbraced but they don't all meet at one point. Thoughts?

Yes. Technically having all the braces meet at one point is stronger but that doesn't mean its more efficient.

If I think about it conceptually, the one with all around braces is likely to be more efficient because although it has lower strength, it can be braced at shorter intervals without increasing the weight by a great deal.

If you really want to have the bracings all meet at one point and have superior strength, just go with X's.

Yeah, wouldn't the second one have more torsion, similar to Z Bracings since they're only going in one direction?

[SLM]

So a few weeks ago I was watching that old Towers video that's in the SOINC store. There's one section where someone analyzes some of the first towers at the ?1994 competition. What was kind of interesting was that this person said that you should have bracings all meet at one point, similar to this.
(Mind the awful image but I think you can understand the idea)
Wouldn't this leave a lot of the section of the other legs unbraced? If this was done all around.
Instead, would

be beneficial instead? It doesn't leave more of the leg unbraced but they don't all meet at one point. Thoughts?

In terms of material usage, both patterns seem to use the same amount. In terms of strength, however, there are differences. Here is a simple analysis showing which pattern works better for the chimney and why.

A Comparison Between two Bracing Patterns

[flyingwatermelon]

So a few weeks ago I was watching that old Towers video that's in the SOINC store. There's one section where someone analyzes some of the first towers at the ?1994 competition. What was kind of interesting was that this person said that you should have bracings all meet at one point, similar to this.
(Mind the awful image but I think you can understand the idea)
Wouldn't this leave a lot of the section of the other legs unbraced? If this was done all around.
Instead, would

be beneficial instead? It doesn't leave more of the leg unbraced but they don't all meet at one point. Thoughts?

In terms of material usage, both patterns seem to use the same amount. In terms of strength, however, there are differences. Here is a simple analysis showing which pattern works better for the chimney and why.

A Comparison Between two Bracing Patterns

So SLM, what you're saying is that the first pattern is more efficient?

[SLM]

So a few weeks ago I was watching that old Towers video that's in the SOINC store. There's one section where someone analyzes some of the first towers at the ?1994 competition. What was kind of interesting was that this person said that you should have bracings all meet at one point, similar to this.
(Mind the awful image but I think you can understand the idea)
Wouldn't this leave a lot of the section of the other legs unbraced? If this was done all around.
Instead, would

be beneficial instead? It doesn't leave more of the leg unbraced but they don't all meet at one point. Thoughts?

In terms of material usage, both patterns seem to use the same amount. In terms of strength, however, there are differences. Here is a simple analysis showing which pattern works better for the chimney and why.

A Comparison Between two Bracing Patterns

So SLM, what you're saying is that the first pattern is more efficient?

I cannot tell from the drawings. It seems to me that the first drawing shows bracings on two adjacent sides of the tower whereas the second drawing is of two opposite sides. You need to know the orientation of the bracings on all four sides of the tower to decide which scenario offers more stability.

[thsom]

Hey, What is the average mass of a 24" 1/8*1/8 basswood stick. I know that it's about 1.5 for balsa for 36"

[mrsteven]

Hey, What is the average mass of a 24" 1/8*1/8 basswood stick. I know that it's about 1.5 for balsa for 36"

Really? From my sources I get a pretty consistent baseline of 1.3-1.4
^ Which is good, b/c there isn't really much use for anything above 1.3

[thsom]

Hey, What is the average mass of a 24" 1/8*1/8 basswood stick. I know that it's about 1.5 for balsa for 36"

Really? From my sources I get a pretty consistent baseline of 1.3-1.4
^ Which is good, b/c there isn't really much use for anything above 1.3

right around that ballpark, but what about basswood?