Scores?

[Crtomir]

After finishing second at the Ohio State Tournament with a score of 418, I think we can clearly say that to place at Nationals, you need to be well into the 500s. (Unfortutnatly, our team placed a respectable 3rd overall and will not be going to Nationals this year.)

It's all about the jumps. Jumps jumps jumps. Our run time was less than 2 seconds.

Less than 2 seconds wow.

Well, speed = longer jump, but how do you keep the speed up for the second jump? That's the trick. We used a plastic cup with the sides cut out so it would be a curved track.

[hippo9]

After finishing second at the Ohio State Tournament with a score of 418, I think we can clearly say that to place at Nationals, you need to be well into the 500s. (Unfortutnatly, our team placed a respectable 3rd overall and will not be going to Nationals this year.)

It's all about the jumps. Jumps jumps jumps. Our run time was less than 2 seconds.

Less than 2 seconds wow.

Well, speed = longer jump, but how do you keep the speed up for the second jump? That's the trick. We used a plastic cup with the sides cut out so it would be a curved track.

Mine used a series of 7cm jumps so I had about 8 cm left that I used to get my time down.

[WhoKnows]

Wow! Second with 418 points. What was the top score?

I roughly know what the top score was, but I think that's up to Solon if they want to release that. And I did not watch the event, so I do not know what their device looks like. I can share information about our device. I'll try to take a picture sometime. It's back at the school know. Don't know when I'll be back there to take a picture.

I should have known Solon was 1st in coaster in OH. Aren’nt they always. I was just trying to figure out what a good national score would be. Unconfirmed reports say people have hit 500 overall score, but I have personally yet to see an official confirmation from results. PA state was won with mid 400’s.

[SOPomo]

Wow! Second with 418 points. What was the top score?

I roughly know what the top score was, but I think that's up to Solon if they want to release that. And I did not watch the event, so I do not know what their device looks like. I can share information about our device. I'll try to take a picture sometime. It's back at the school know. Don't know when I'll be back there to take a picture.

I should have known Solon was 1st in coaster in OH. Aren’nt they always. I was just trying to figure out what a good national score would be. Unconfirmed reports say people have hit 500 overall score, but I have personally yet to see an official confirmation from results. PA state was won with mid 400’s.

I can confirm Norcal was won with a 500+ score.

[knightmoves]

Unconfirmed reports say people have hit 500 overall score, but I have personally yet to see an official confirmation from results. PA state was won with mid 400’s.

IL was won with a score of 501, and the victor posted in this forum. I think second was in the 400s, and third in the high 300s.

I think nationals will have a few teams with >80cm of gaps, and I'd guess the winner will have 1m of gaps.

[megrimlockawesom]

best we have gotten so far is 300-ish. We have 5 gaps that total around 60. Any ideas on how we can improve them?

[Crtomir]

best we have gotten so far is 300-ish. We have 5 gaps that total around 60. Any ideas on how we can improve them?

Fewer gaps, longer jumps. Fewer gaps fewer points of failure. Longer jumps = more points.

Here is what we found:

1. You need speed for longer jumps and you need height to change potential energy into kinetic energy (a.k.a. speed).

2. Anything that reduces your speed is BAD.

3. Vibration is bad. Not only does it reduce accuracy of the jump, but it takes away a large amount of energy. We had been using 1" diameter steel balls, but they just shook the entire device too much. Even though we could not always see the vibrations, sound is vibration and sound is loss of energy. The quieter the better. So we went with airsoft ammo as balls. Find the highest precision airsoft balls you can find. They are plastic and lightweight. Build the frame of your device out of 3/4"-1" thick plywood with extra reinforcement and there will be very little vibration from the airsoft balls.

4. For a 60cm x 60cm device, the diagonal is about 84cm. With that, you should be able to get a 40-50cm jump. Ours was only 37cm. That's the first jump.

5. Next, you have to figure out how to turn the ball around and jump back again without bouncing off a wall (illegal and loses energy). What you want is for the ball to keep it's speed during the turn-around. We used half of a loop-de-loop, so the ball landed on the bottom side, rolled around and up to the top side and shot out the top for another jump. That's the 2nd jump.

6. To be really competitive, you probably want a third jump. We only had two jumps.

[megrimlockawesom]

best we have gotten so far is 300-ish. We have 5 gaps that total around 60. Any ideas on how we can improve them?

Fewer gaps, longer jumps. Fewer gaps fewer points of failure. Longer jumps = more points.

Here is what we found:

1. You need speed for longer jumps and you need height to change potential energy into kinetic energy (a.k.a. speed).

2. Anything that reduces your speed is BAD.

3. Vibration is bad. Not only does it reduce accuracy of the jump, but it takes away a large amount of energy. We had been using 1" diameter steel balls, but they just shook the entire device too much. Even though we could not always see the vibrations, sound is vibration and sound is loss of energy. The quieter the better. So we went with airsoft ammo as balls. Find the highest precision airsoft balls you can find. They are plastic and lightweight. Build the frame of your device out of 3/4"-1" thick plywood with extra reinforcement and there will be very little vibration from the airsoft balls.

4. For a 60cm x 60cm device, the diagonal is about 84cm. With that, you should be able to get a 40-50cm jump. Ours was only 37cm. That's the first jump.

5. Next, you have to figure out how to turn the ball around and jump back again without bouncing off a wall (illegal and loses energy). What you want is for the ball to keep it's speed during the turn-around. We used half of a loop-de-loop, so the ball landed on the bottom side, rolled around and up to the top side and shot out the top for another jump. That's the 2nd jump.

6. To be really competitive, you probably want a third jump. We only had two jumps.

What kind of loop de loop did you use?

[vehicleguy]

I just realized that I never posted my score. My coaster scores around 350. Before improvements, it had around 300 points. Both scores would have gotten 3rd at PA states, but the improved coaster had a minor penalty that us back to 7th at states

[IvanGe]

best we have gotten so far is 300-ish. We have 5 gaps that total around 60. Any ideas on how we can improve them?

Fewer gaps, longer jumps. Fewer gaps fewer points of failure. Longer jumps = more points.

Here is what we found:

1. You need speed for longer jumps and you need height to change potential energy into kinetic energy (a.k.a. speed).

2. Anything that reduces your speed is BAD.

3. Vibration is bad. Not only does it reduce accuracy of the jump, but it takes away a large amount of energy. We had been using 1" diameter steel balls, but they just shook the entire device too much. Even though we could not always see the vibrations, sound is vibration and sound is loss of energy. The quieter the better. So we went with airsoft ammo as balls. Find the highest precision airsoft balls you can find. They are plastic and lightweight. Build the frame of your device out of 3/4"-1" thick plywood with extra reinforcement and there will be very little vibration from the airsoft balls.

4. For a 60cm x 60cm device, the diagonal is about 84cm. With that, you should be able to get a 40-50cm jump. Ours was only 37cm. That's the first jump.

5. Next, you have to figure out how to turn the ball around and jump back again without bouncing off a wall (illegal and loses energy). What you want is for the ball to keep it's speed during the turn-around. We used half of a loop-de-loop, so the ball landed on the bottom side, rolled around and up to the top side and shot out the top for another jump. That's the 2nd jump.

6. To be really competitive, you probably want a third jump. We only had two jumps.

What kind of loop de loop did you use?

this could totally work, but what I am doing right now is using 5 jumps, being 15, 16, 16, 17, 22. This gives 86cm of jumps. I used to have 97 at prime but I realized that it was out of specs by A LOT. Also you would want to build it for a good timing, because at nationals, i'm expecting for a 30-40 second target time.