Scioly.org

I keep seeing stuff about FAT trebuchets. It looks like these are allowed. Are teams building them? Any tips?

Hello!
Are there instructions for the Storm the Castle counterweights that will be used in competition?

There’s instruction on sonic.org. What is not clear is that there are no dimensional requirements state for the counter weight. It’s very vague and could have real implications to everyone’s design. For instance. 1. There’s is no dinension listed for the distance from the bottom of the counter weight to the contact point of the eye bolt. Meaning if the bolt is screwed into the counter weight more or less, then the bottom of the counter weight could hit bottom of device. 2. Instructions says to cut pvc 7-8inches long, again wether 7 or 8 inches it will affect the hanging height. 3.the eyebolt says it’s 1 inch, assuming that’s the diameter of the eye itself. There no specs for the thickness of the bolt itself. Again it could be thicker or thinner and if too thick may not fit on devices and will have to be zipped tied and then affect the hanging length which goes back to issues 1 and 2. 4. Option to uses 2 in or 3 inch PVC pipe. Since we don’t know what the supervisors will use I suppose best to practice with the largest possible option.

If anyone an clarify these questions it will be helpful other wise will have to just make the largest possible counterweight with the maximum dimension and hope it works. Just don’t want to over build it and place unnecessary clearances. Thanks.

Sppscioly wrote: ↑November 13th, 2021, 5:19 am There’s instruction on sonic.org. What is not clear is that there are no dimensional requirements state for the counter weight. It’s very vague and could have real implications to everyone’s design. For instance. 1. There’s is no dinension listed for the distance from the bottom of the counter weight to the contact point of the eye bolt.

Rule 6d. The counterweight with hook must fit inside a 15.0 cm cube.

It doesn't say that the counterweight must hang parallel to a side of the cube, so an evil ES could build a counterweight that fitted across the diagonal of a 15.0 cm cube.
The construction with PVC pipe parts in the logistics manual is only one possible way of building a counterweight. Your device should accommodate counterweights of varying sizes (within the 15cm cube limit).

You could imagine an ES building a counterweight that was mostly pennies and duct tape.

So if the counter weight must fit into a 15cm cube, then the instructions don't work since 15cm is 5.9 inches so the 7-8in pvc pipe is already too large without the eye hook attached. the only what this might fit in a cube is diagonally. seems like we would need to accommodate a 15 cm cube plus some dimension for the hook. even then seem to be much more complicated then it has to be for a counter weight build, which isn't even part of the competition. can we get an official interpretation of this?

Sppscioly wrote: ↑November 15th, 2021, 4:40 pm can we get an official interpretation of this?

The only way to get an official statement on anything is to file a request for clarification on the soinc.org website.

Although you should note that the instructions for building the PVC pipe weights say to cut 7-8cm lengths of pipe, not 7-8 inches.

Does "open hook bolt" mean eye hook or j bolt? When I Google it the first things that pop up are j bolts but in the soinc.org instructions for making counterweights they use eye bolts.

jgrischow1 wrote: ↑November 21st, 2021, 7:52 pm Does "open hook bolt" mean eye hook or j bolt? When I Google it the first things that pop up are j bolts but in the soinc.org instructions for making counterweights they use eye bolts.

Good question. I would have thought it meant a bolt like this one: https://www.amazon.com/National-Hardwar ... B000BO7BLQ (rather than a j-bolt) but the counterweight instructions has eye bolts.

I'd think that what you'd expect was a hook that you could hook on to an eye bolt, but I'd guess that most people will build what's in the pictures in the counterweight instructions. I'd recommend you file a request for clarification at soinc.org.

knightmoves wrote: ↑November 21st, 2021, 8:09 pm

jgrischow1 wrote: ↑November 21st, 2021, 7:52 pm Does "open hook bolt" mean eye hook or j bolt? When I Google it the first things that pop up are j bolts but in the soinc.org instructions for making counterweights they use eye bolts.

Good question. I would have thought it meant a bolt like this one: https://www.amazon.com/National-Hardwar ... B000BO7BLQ (rather than a j-bolt) but the counterweight instructions has eye bolts.

I'd think that what you'd expect was a hook that you could hook on to an eye bolt, but I'd guess that most people will build what's in the pictures in the counterweight instructions. I'd recommend you file a request for clarification at soinc.org.

Yeah good idea. I like in the past when they would specify like "National Hardware serial number xxxxx or equivalent".