Double the wood, half the weight!!!????

[emilyshangg]

Yoooo Anyone know where to buy the ULTRA LIGHT wood?
Before you ask, yes I have tried SIG, National, Specialized, Amazon, and I'm checking out f1d.biz.
But somehow, those that are winning have wayyyy more wood on their tower than I do, and are half the weight. What the phlorque am I missing?
I'm just about to plant my own balsa tree and harvest my own sticks so... any other ideas? ANYthing would help!! Thanks!

[Crtomir]

Specialized Balsa http://www.specializedbalsa.com/ has really light wood. You can select the density range you want. This is from their website for balsa sticks:

•Extra Light Balsa at (6 or less pounds per cubic foot) is 100% extra.
•Light Balsa at (6-10 pounds per cubic foot) is 100% extra.
•Medium Balsa at (10-14 pounds per cubic foot) is 100% extra.
•Heavy Balsa at (14-19 pounds per cubic foot) is 100% extra.
•Extra Heavy Balsa at (19+ pounds per cubic foot) is 100% extra.

What you want is probably "Light Balsa" unless you are trying to build one of those towers that jus barely holds the loading block and bucket.

Unfortunately Specialized Balsa did not have enough Light Balsa to fill my order, so they gave me a good deal on "Discolored" wood. I gotta say, that the I can hardly tell the difference. However, the density range is not so narrow, so I have some really light pieces (0.8g) and some heavy pieces (1.7g-2g) for 1/8" x 1/8" x 36" sticks.

[retired1]

What are you looking for? sheets or sticks? I might have some that I can spare.

[cool hand luke]

do you have a pic of your tower and the competitions? The SUPER light balsa from specialized is very very challenging to work with. I don't think it would be worth attempting. how much do your towers weigh? what about glue, how much of your weight is glue?

[DarthBuilder]

To add to Luke’s post, it literally breaks in your fingers if you basically touch it.

[dholdgreve]

The key is in finding sticks that are both very light and very stiff... Then add to this, very straight. These are very rare... You may need to go through a hundred pieces just to find 2 or 3 that meet this criteria. This is just for the columns... We will order several ultra light sticks, then cut them into 12" lengths, then weigh them and test for strength to choose the columns we want to use.

You can lose any advantage by not being just as picky with the bracing. We cut our own from light weight sheets of 1/32" balsa

Finally, CA glue is very heavy... I've seen it make as much as 1.5 gram difference from an experienced builder and one just starting out, using the exact same density material, same design... The only difference is the amount of glue used.

[emilyshangg]

What are you looking for? sheets or sticks? I might have some that I can spare.

Thanks, no I have wood right now, and it's decent. I've just seen much better wood that is much lighter and wondered if there was another store I was missing out on.

[emilyshangg]

do you have a pic of your tower and the competitions? The SUPER light balsa from specialized is very very challenging to work with. I don't think it would be worth attempting. how much do your towers weigh? what about glue, how much of your weight is glue?

I already do make my towers from specialized wood and it's fine. I'm just looking for alternative options.

[emilyshangg]

The key is in finding sticks that are both very light and very stiff... Then add to this, very straight. These are very rare... You may need to go through a hundred pieces just to find 2 or 3 that meet this criteria. This is just for the columns... We will order several ultra light sticks, then cut them into 12" lengths, then weigh them and test for strength to choose the columns we want to use.

You can lose any advantage by not being just as picky with the bracing. We cut our own from light weight sheets of 1/32" balsa

Finally, CA glue is very heavy... I've seen it make as much as 1.5 gram difference from an experienced builder and one just starting out, using the exact same density material, same design... The only difference is the amount of glue used.

That being said, any glue ideas? Looking to try new brands.
Y'all cut your own pieces? How do you do that accurately?
Thanks for the advice and response!

[dholdgreve]

The key is in finding sticks that are both very light and very stiff... Then add to this, very straight. These are very rare... You may need to go through a hundred pieces just to find 2 or 3 that meet this criteria. This is just for the columns... We will order several ultra light sticks, then cut them into 12" lengths, then weigh them and test for strength to choose the columns we want to use.

You can lose any advantage by not being just as picky with the bracing. We cut our own from light weight sheets of 1/32" balsa

Finally, CA glue is very heavy... I've seen it make as much as 1.5 gram difference from an experienced builder and one just starting out, using the exact same density material, same design... The only difference is the amount of glue used.

That being said, any glue ideas? Looking to try new brands.
Y'all cut your own pieces? How do you do that accurately?
Thanks for the advice and response!

The brand of glue is not that important... We use Jet, but any medium viscosity C/A glue will do... it is the amount that is so critical. Go to a Hobby Store and ask for micro-tip adapters. That will cut your glue use by up to 80%.
We buy our balsa columns in sticks, already cut, in random densities to start the season (to save money), figure what works and doesn't work and where the best trade-off is. As has been said numerous times on this forum, as the column density and weight comes down, the bracing quantity goes up. So it is up to you to figure out what that perfect balance is.
Yes, for the bracing, we buy 4" x 1/32" x 36" sheets of balsa, and strip it ourselves, so we can make adjustments infinitely in width. If we wanted to try bracing that was 5/128" wide x 1/32" thick, we could.