Transportation

[soccerkid812]

hi everyone
i was just wondering thats the best way to transport towers to different competitions like regionals, states, and nationals
thanks!

[robotman]

i personally use a plastic box with foam or packing peanuts

[soccerkid812]

is a plastic box or cardboard box better?

[iYOA]

i doubt it will matter. For regionals and an invite i went to, my partner and i just had our tower sticking out of an open cardboard box and it worked fine.
During the invite, we made sure to hold the tower with us on the bus ride there and there was no problem. For regionals, we put the tower in the back of the bus and unloaded it from the back( however, the back of the bus was a relatively safe place because the sounds of music stuff was transported separately so there was no risk of parts falling on our towers)

I think the safest way to transport it is to just be with it and if anything does break, it is usually just the trusses and those can be easily fixed.

Transportation might be much more difficult for nationals though. in that case, you should probably want a plastic box and a backup tower as well. Also, bring a sufficient amount of wood and materials to build another tower just in case.... with a jig, it only takes about 2hrs to make

[Freyssenet]

I uploaded a photo of the box we made. It will take some time for it to be validated. It is made of Elmer's 1/2 in foam board and takes 1 h of work to build. I think it is worth the effort of making a box. Too much time is spend building models, to ruin it just before the test.

[Freyssenet]

The photo will be posted in the gallery...

[nejanimb]

The best boxes:

http://gallery.scioly.org/details.php?image_id=2487
http://gallery.scioly.org/details.php?image_id=2486

[soccerkid812]

The photo will be posted in the gallery...

thats a nice box you have there...

is there any type of filling on the inside?

[Freyssenet]

We added nothing, however if you live in a place of high relative humidity, you could drop some Silica Gel Desiccant bags.

[soccerkid812]

We added nothing, however if you live in a place of high relative humidity, you could drop some Silica Gel Desiccant bags.

what exactly do these bags do?

[Littleboy]

They get rid of alot of the humidity. Makes tower lighter by reducing humidity it is exposed to.
Humidity=unnessesary weight
Last year at state, it was very humid and some of my major pieces of the bridge warped and it was way weaker.
For more info visit: http://www.sud-chemie.com/scmcms/web/page_en_6264.htm

We use a plastic suitcase with foam and these bags. It is hard, strong, no one can see our structures, and for a variety of other obvious reasons.

[Freyssenet]

If your tower is weight critical, that is very light, say less than 6 grams, moisture could increase its weight because balsa is highly hygroscopic Dissecant bags absorb this moisture before balsa can absorb it itself. If your tower is over 7 grams, I would not worry too much, unless you live in a state with high relative humidity (like HW, FL, and other Southern states this time of the year).

[soccerkid812]

If your tower is weight critical, that is very light, say less than 6 grams, moisture could increase its weight because balsa is highly hygroscopic Dissecant bags absorb this moisture before balsa can absorb it itself. If your tower is over 7 grams, I would not worry too much, unless you live in a state with high relative humidity (like HW, FL, and other Southern states this time of the year).

if humidity is absorbed to balsa wood, whats the relationship between the weight of the tower and how much weight is added?

[Littleboy]

if humidity is absorbed to balsa wood, whats the relationship between the weight of the tower and how much weight is added?

Depends on how much humidity is in the air and the amount of balsa and densitys (and a few more factors that i can't think of off the top of my head) of the wood.

[Freyssenet]

I read you live in GA, and the relative humidity outdoor there is high, in a building it will be considerably less... Balsa wood is exposed long enough will absorb water to be in equilbrium with the surrounding environment. I would check in a pharmacy , wallmart or other similar shops if the sell silica gel sacks... they are cheap...