Page 1 of 1

Tower weights and efficiency

Posted: November 26th, 2010, 2:49 pm
by bmbw123
I haven't done towers since Division B, and decided to try it again this year. Apparently, the way of efficiency has changed, so holding the maximum weight seems to be a good idea. I've been looking around and seeing people build 5g towers holding the maximum amount of weight. Of course I don't plan on being able to do this ;), but with my tower design, I don't see how to even get a tower to be 5g let alone support the entire weight.

What I'm wondering is what the ideal balsa wood densities for say, the outer sides of the tower wood be. Back in middle school I used pretty heavy pieces of balsa wood, but before I order large amounts, I would like some of your inputs on the types of wood to use for the cross sections and outlines. Thanks for any help! :)

Re: Tower weights and efficiency

Posted: February 2nd, 2011, 6:16 pm
by deezee
I did bridges last year too, and towers is pretty different. generally, you want to support the most weight for the least weight of the tower. I'm using 1/16x1/16 inch balsa for the supports, and using 1/16x1/8 for the main structure and skeleton. I don't know how that would hold. When I did Bass wood last time, I held about 40 Kilograms and it still didn't break! so now I'm using just balsa. If you have any other ideas please tell me :D