Junkyard Challenge B

[cooltiger]

I know at my regional that we can tape to the floor because my school is running it. I would expect them to allow it at the states and nationals, the people their should have figured out that if kids can tape things to the floor, they will. Anyway I can get max points on everything except for the timing, I'll probaly have it figured out by the regionals, I just didn't think anyone was really getting that close.

[diamondplatinum]

is it possible to use a box that opens up?

[brobo]

I've seen that a lot of times. What people will do is completely build their contraption inside their box, and line the inside walls with vellcrow. The box opens up into four branches, so it looks something like this:
_
_||_
|= =|
..||

Bad picture, I know, but the mousetraps have vellcrow on the bottom so you can move the mousetraps up and down, and the contraption is built in the middle.

If this doesn't make sense, just ask me and I'll try to explain farther.

[germinator]

our junkyard uses knex motors and string. the string gets pulled by this turning gear. When the string stretches 2 maximum, the mousetrap will snap. we can adjust the length of the string to change the time.

[scifipi]

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!

How did you build it in two hours? If you want to keep it private you can, but what is the concept?

[brobo]

You can find a score sheet to use online at official Science Olympiad web page, but I thought that was a little hard to use, so I made my own. You can find my copy here. Feel free to use it! Its a simple excell file. All you have to do is type in "Y" (yes) or "N" (no) in the collums, or type in a number. It does all the addition/multiplication/subtraction for you.
Simple, I know, but it can help you find out your total in any practice runs you do.
Enjoy!

[without]

Sorta strange that you would say that, because that is what we are doing.

I've seen that a lot of times. What people will do is completely build their contraption inside their box, and line the inside walls with vellcrow. The box opens up into four branches, so it looks something like this:
_
_||_
|= =|
..||

Bad picture, I know, but the mousetraps have vellcrow on the bottom so you can move the mousetraps up and down, and the contraption is built in the middle.

If this doesn't make sense, just ask me and I'll try to explain farther.

[brobo]

I need a rule clarification, so I decided to ask if anyone knew the answer to it.
I've made some changes to my contraption, so now the balls roll down some tubes and to the mousetraps. The mousetraps are in a elbow joint, made of PVC pipe, so the pipe leads straight to the PVC pipe then drops straight into the elbow joint, and onto the mousetrap. The problem is that you can't see the mousetrap. Will it be ok that the judges can see the ball roll down the pipe, which clearly leads to the mousetrap, and hear the mouse trap be set? or do they have to actually see the mousetrap set off?

[penclspinner]

I need a rule clarification, so I decided to ask if anyone knew the answer to it.
I've made some changes to my contraption, so now the balls roll down some tubes and to the mousetraps. The mousetraps are in a elbow joint, made of PVC pipe, so the pipe leads straight to the PVC pipe then drops straight into the elbow joint, and onto the mousetrap. The problem is that you can't see the mousetrap. Will it be ok that the judges can see the ball roll down the pipe, which clearly leads to the mousetrap, and hear the mouse trap be set? or do they have to actually see the mousetrap set off?

Humm...this is an interesting question. To be honest, I would first send an email your regional/state director asking them to provide an answer.
That seems like the safest thing to do along with sending in a rule clarification to soinc if you so choose. Though, states have in the past have had specific rules which do not conform to certain national standards so it's your best bet to be in contact with your immediate director.

[without]

You probably would need to show them that the mousetrap is there, and then if they are sure of the times and such, show them the traps afterwards.

I need a rule clarification, so I decided to ask if anyone knew the answer to it.
I've made some changes to my contraption, so now the balls roll down some tubes and to the mousetraps. The mousetraps are in a elbow joint, made of PVC pipe, so the pipe leads straight to the PVC pipe then drops straight into the elbow joint, and onto the mousetrap. The problem is that you can't see the mousetrap. Will it be ok that the judges can see the ball roll down the pipe, which clearly leads to the mousetrap, and hear the mouse trap be set? or do they have to actually see the mousetrap set off?

Humm...this is an interesting question. To be honest, I would first send an email your regional/state director asking them to provide an answer.
That seems like the safest thing to do along with sending in a rule clarification to soinc if you so choose. Though, states have in the past have had specific rules which do not conform to certain national standards so it's your best bet to be in contact with your immediate director.