How much of the tower can be constructed with adhesives?

[JamesRAHS]

I was curious about peoples interpretations of the rules on what percentage of adhesives and glue we can use in the construction of our towers. It does mention that composites aren't allowed for major structure elements because of wood based 3d printing. But if it isn't a composite, if I am literally 3D printing glue, how much of it can I use on my tower? To clarify, I am not sure it is a good idea, however I would be interested to see if it is possible.

[Unome]

This is an interesting question. I'm not sure what the threshold between being wood bonded by glue and using glue as a structural material would be.

[cool hand luke]

I'd say that the way the rules are written you could have a structure that is 99.999% adhesive since they specifically say that you can laminate the wood. So put one little sliver at the top, one at the bottom and call the rest lamination.

But I'm also the guy most likely to get crosswise with the judges.

[Raleway]

I mean sure you could do that... but glue is way heavier than Balsa if you were to use it at that level and would definitely have much less strength at any competitive mass... game on I guess? (I hate myself for puns)

[Random Human]

I was curious about peoples interpretations of the rules on what percentage of adhesives and glue we can use in the construction of our towers. It does mention that composites aren't allowed for major structure elements because of wood based 3d printing. But if it isn't a composite, if I am literally 3D printing glue, how much of it can I use on my tower? To clarify, I am not sure it is a good idea, however I would be interested to see if it is possible.

Uh, yeah I guess that works, you can print like a "glue tower". and put 2 pieces of wood in outside of your glue, so you can claim that the glue is acting like an adhesive. Intresting idea, but glue isn't efficient compared to balsa.

[dholdgreve]

The rules specifically state that the tower is to be"constructed of wood and bonded by adhesive." To me, this means that the majority of the tower should be made of wood, with only the joints (nodes) held with adhesive. With regard to "lamination," I would interpret this as (2) or more pieces of wood held together laterally (not longitudinally) by adhesive. The rules clearly define adhesive as the "substance used to join two or more materials together."
I do not believe that the 3-D material could possibly be considered as an adhesive. I'd suggest you also review the General Rules on the inside rear cover that state that "Teams are expected to make an honest effort to follow the rules and the spirit of the problem (not interpret the rules so they have an unfair advantage)." Since not all teams have access to 3-D printing capabilities, this would be a violation on this rule.

in short, adhesives connect the structural pieces of the tower. If your adhesive is doing more than connecting, it is no longer an adhesive, but a structural member of the tower and should not be allowed, since it is not wood... Just my 2 cents.

You may have a better argument claiming that it is "cellulose" a byproduct of wood... but I wouldn't buy that one either!

[Balsa Man]

The rules specifically state that the tower is to be"constructed of wood and bonded by adhesive." To me, this means that the majority of the tower should be made of wood, with only the joints (nodes) held with adhesive. With regard to "lamination," I would interpret this as (2) or more pieces of wood held together laterally (not longitudinally) by adhesive. The rules clearly define adhesive as the "substance used to join two or more materials together."
I do not believe that the 3-D material could possibly be considered as an adhesive. I'd suggest you also review the General Rules on the inside rear cover that state that "Teams are expected to make an honest effort to follow the rules and the spirit of the problem (not interpret the rules so they have an unfair advantage)." Since not all teams have access to 3-D printing capabilities, this would be a violation on this rule.

in short, adhesives connect the structural pieces of the tower. If your adhesive is doing more than connecting, it is no longer an adhesive, but a structural member of the tower and should not be allowed, since it is not wood... Just my 2 cents.

You may have a better argument claiming that it is "cellulose" a byproduct of wood... but I wouldn't buy that one either!

Yup, agree this becomes at some point a 'spirit of the rules' problem/violation. But the whole idea is like counting/speculating the number of angels that can fit on the head of a pin (as in meaningless), because glue/3-D printing material is SO much heavier than wood; you'll never get anything approaching decent efficiency...