Dropping Sand

[donutsandcupcakes]

At what speed should we pour sand. Fast, Medium, or Slow?
Basically, should we open the "thing" all the way or keep near the medium opening?

[Unome]

Start slow to prevent excess force from the initial impact, and make your way up to full speed as quickly as you can without causing unnecessary stress.

[dholdgreve]

Yes...^^^^^ What he said... Start slow, then gradually increase over the next 10 to 20 seconds to wide open. The key is to NOT MOVE THE BUCKET! Every year, I see kids pushing the bucket one way then the other in an effort to "load the bucket evenly." This is the absolute worst thing that you can do, as it causes a shift in the loading of the boom... Do not do that!

[Carrot]

I know that people always do slow to fast but I feel like there is more of an advantage to stay slow or go from slow to fast back to slow. Isn't it more advantageous to not go too fast as I think it would be similar to dropping a cup of sand at once vs just a few grains at a time? Dropping less sand at once would probably result in a lower impact force (I think... I'm not very good at physics stuff). In return, the boomilever would have to hold the load for a longer period as time.

This is just my view over sand loading, as I tried handloading at SOUP and somehow got a higher efficiency than in the past, and is why I prefer cup loading over auto-loaders and using up as close to the 6 min limit as I can too fully test my boomilever.

[MadCow2357]

I know that people always do slow to fast but I feel like there is more of an advantage to stay slow or go from slow to fast back to slow. Isn't it more advantageous to not go too fast as I think it would be similar to dropping a cup of sand at once vs just a few grains at a time? Dropping less sand at once would probably result in a lower impact force (I think... I'm not very good at physics stuff). In return, the boomilever would have to hold the load for a longer period as time.

This is just my view over sand loading, as I tried handloading at SOUP and somehow got a higher efficiency than in the past, and is why I prefer cup loading over auto-loaders and using up as close to the 6 min limit as I can too fully test my boomilever.

This is true, the impact force is higher when you have the auto loader wide open. However, the longer the boomilever has to take the stress, the more likely it is to break.

I hand load as well, since I don't have an autoloader. I've found that my hand loading scores are usually a bit higher than the scores I get at competitions using autoloaders.

[jinhusong]

If possible, timing it. If no time limit, just go as slow as possible.

Best is constant speed in about 6 minutes and to the load your boomilever can hold.

Jinhu

[dholdgreve]

I know that people always do slow to fast but I feel like there is more of an advantage to stay slow or go from slow to fast back to slow. Isn't it more advantageous to not go too fast as I think it would be similar to dropping a cup of sand at once vs just a few grains at a time? Dropping less sand at once would probably result in a lower impact force (I think... I'm not very good at physics stuff). In return, the boomilever would have to hold the load for a longer period as time.

This is just my view over sand loading, as I tried handloading at SOUP and somehow got a higher efficiency than in the past, and is why I prefer cup loading over auto-loaders and using up as close to the 6 min limit as I can too fully test my boomilever.

This is true, the impact force is higher when you have the auto loader wide open. However, the longer the boomilever has to take the stress, the more likely it is to break.

I hand load as well, since I don't have an autoloader. I've found that my hand loading scores are usually a bit higher than the scores I get at competitions using autoloaders.

Of course everyone is welcome to their opinion... Mine is that the average boom will score about 200 points higher with an auto loader than hand loading. There are a number of factors that impact this opinion: The chances of inadvertently bumping the bail of the bucket causing catastrophic failure is much higher hand loading than auto loading. Hand loading generally takes substantially longer than auto loading. Hand loading is a series of dynamic "thumps" unless you go really slow, in which case refer to point 2.

Personally, I believe the correct route is to start slowly, build to fast delivery, then back off for the last 2 to 3 KG. but again I stress, KEEP THE CHAIN VERTICAL AND THE BUCKET STILL.

[klastyioer]

go slow and keep the sand pouring in the bucket. inform your partner if the bucket is tilted, always keep it level and still

[Carrot]

go slow and keep the sand pouring in the bucket. inform your partner if the bucket is tilted, always keep it level and still

I don't believe that a tilting bucket would affect anything as the center of mass is still in line with the chain and it is loading only from one point.

[klastyioer]

go slow and keep the sand pouring in the bucket. inform your partner if the bucket is tilted, always keep it level and still

I don't believe that a tilting bucket would affect anything as the center of mass is still in line with the chain and it is loading only from one point.

its still important to keep the bucket str8 relative to the ground though, if it is tilted then the sand may tilt in the downwards direction of the bucket, later offsetting the weight distribution of the entire thing. you always want to keep things as level as possible