Junkyard Challenge B

[StampingKid]

If this were strictly mechanical like a true Rube Goldberg, 50-55 seconds would be a competitive range. But a programmable logic control can do 59.99 seconds as easily as 50-55 seconds.

A couple of weeks ago wisguy noted"

I ran the event at a recent invitational and the top 3 teams all had PLCs. The scores were all based on 59 "whole seconds" and were decided by the fraction of the second required to start and stop the stopwatch. The 4th and 5th teams did not use a PLC but still used motors and got times of 53 and 57 seconds. They could have likely done better if they pushed it a little.
Basically the whole event came down to whomever got the luckiest on the stopwatch

[wlsguy]

Everyone is talking 59 seconds this and that, is anyone on here accutaly really getting that close. We have to remember this is a new event, and theirs no real standerd designs. Not to mention that if the judges can't figure out which one went off first, they will say its a tie, and points for the correct order will be lost. I think this is what we are more likly to see.

Regionals: Winners will be in the 50 seconds + range
States: Winners will be in the 55 seconds + range
Nationals: Winners will be 57, 58, or 59 seconds (however this may be luck, not consistent wining)

At the recent Magsig Invitational, 4 of the 39 teams had times of 59 seconds and 1 other had 58 seconds. After those teams, the next best scores were in the 640 range. If your device can get all of the points and do it in >40 seconds, you will likely do well everywhere except Nationals and some very competitive states. Concentrate on getting all of the points. If you can't do that, keep trying...

[scifipi]

I know it's not the best, but I'm going to do what I feel is the safest. I'll just stay anywhere under 50-55 secs.
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Yeah, I would rather get a little worse of a score than become disqualified.
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Lol, no one found out about your smuggling, right?
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Our machine failed epically anyway, wouldn't have mattered.

Now that we have the 2 months until states, we're making one that works.

Sounds like my teams device... It used to fail (at a practice competition in school) so we fixed it and now it probably works!
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Events: Junkyard Challenge Division B Livingston, NJ (Tentative)

((You live in New Jersey? Seems as though everyone lives in NJ))
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Anyways, would any of you guys agree or disagree that hydraulics and 6V of electricity go together? My team is deciding for invitationals which come up in 8 days! (Yes, eleng, in 8 days!)
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Oh, oops I checked last night didn't I...
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She still has the stuff?!
Well, new plan? What will we ever do?!

[eleng_555]

hi scifipi! i followed your advice as you can see and got an account!

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cats rule!

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I know it's not the best, but I'm going to do what I feel is the safest. I'll just stay anywhere under 50-55 secs.

i agree..there's the risk of something slowing something down so you can be flexible if you are like 50 seconds. 59 is too risky i'd think, and how disappointed would you be if you were one second off?
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lol i hope not
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yup that's our device scifipi!
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actually it's 7 days...from saturday to saturday right?
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probably..so we're going to david's house today? (i got the ballista from paul's house already)...problem though..... mrs. buckley never gave us the metal rods and still has our triggering device (the dog elastic stretchy thingamobobber)....should we try to come up with another idea? string? hooks?(not davids idea...)the things that adam's group has? i wonder..
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i don't know! she never gave the stuff back to us! she said she was finding a way to sand down the sharp metal rods....and she was ordering stuff for a new triggering mechanism.....what are we doing? (im bringing strong string for a new one...david has hooks, and we'll have to do what we can)

[Aves]

One thing to remember - use fresh batteries if you're doing something motor powered.

Also, make sure to rehearse before the event repeatedly, with a mock "impound". Having only 24 hours to prepare at regionals, (long story) our team screwed up badly and we had to smuggle in a golf ball and a measuring tape.

Also, bring extra mousetraps!

[fleet130]

Another point I forgot is that many host institutions absolutely do not allow tape of any kind on the floor. I remember one national tournament where ONLY tape supplied by the host institution was allowed. These institutions are shelling out tens, or even hundreds, of thousands of dollars to host a tournament. It's not good dollars and sense to argue with them that whatever tape you want to use won't cause damage or additional costs. I remember at least one tournament where there were complaints about adhesive residue left behind

[Aves]

Our machine failed epically anyway, wouldn't have mattered.

Now that we have the 2 months until states, we're making one that works.

[scifipi]

Well, fails mean new and better adjustments/modifications/ideas!

[CJAP Crazy MMM]

A couple of my friends made a working junkyard challenge thing in two hours! It also worked perfectly we just used it in a mini competitions against ourselves (we have 2 teams) but it was awesome!

[eleng_555]

cool! 2 hours? impressive...we still need to modify ours (me and scifipi) and were deciding on whether or not to use an electric timer and stuff