DumbTro wrote:What I'm trying to say I want to use a hairdryer because maybe its not the best method but it still removes weight from the structure from and increases my efficiency. I got an efficiency of 1724 with my bridge at 8.7 and I held max load. I removed 0.1 gram with hair drying, but I want to know a way that is better and makes me loss more weight. By the way I'm division C.JonB wrote:This has been discussed in the past and I am pretty sure that almost everyone agrees that using a hair dryer is just not practical in reference to removing moisture from the wood (also, you don't want to remove ALL the moisture). There is really no way to use a hair dryer right before you test your bridge. If you use a hair dryer hours before the competition then it will just reabsorb moisture from the air around it. We have used silica gel in the containers that we transport our structures in but that is just to make sure that there is not an EXCESS of moisture around it (we are in Florida).DumbTro wrote:Guys what's the best way to hair dry your structure while maintaining most strength and decreasing most weight for the bridge?
If you remove ALL of the moisture it can become very brittle. I would say there is a balance- you want SOME moisture in the wood. The only way that is "better" is to optimize the actual wood being used (use lighter wood in areas that can take it) and optimize the design.
This actually made my day
Scores there would be meaningless because anyone can speculate that it would have been higher (but subjective to how much).