ATOT weekly Engineering and Creative Challenge WEEK 3 POLL UP

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YOyoYOhowsDAjello

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
31,204
45
91
Last full day, folks.

I will be making the poll sometime tomorrow the 19th.

It will be early afternoon at the earliest and in the evening at the latest. To guarantee your spot in the running (I'm assuming that several of you have designs that you don't want to share publicly until the last minute), PM or e-mail me your design by Sunday noon central time.
 
HomeBrewerDude

HomeBrewerDude

Lifer
Jan 18, 2001
14,465
1
0
Alright... I got up to 1270. This is my final attempt. Things were going well, but the pennies themselves contributed too much variation and I lost stability at about the 160th layer of pennies.

Video of the last addition and partial collapse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH8kzxIX460

Here is a shot of the columns post collapse:
Columns1270.JPG

Here is a shot of the tower after a partial collapse:
partialCollapse1270.JPG

This tower failed because of the lack of stability in the upper part of the penny tower. The Post-It tower was very stable and could have held many many more pennies.
 
The Boston Dangler

The Boston Dangler

Lifer
Mar 10, 2005
14,647
2
0
i'm entering as part of Team Zombie, with my friends rob and daniella. we post a total of 1052.

unfortunately, video is not currently available.
1002_pennies.jpg
420_closeup.jpg
innards.jpg
base.jpg
score_sheet_1052.jpg

the 2-story base with coaxial (sorta :p) rings (3pc, 2pc, 1pc roof) was dan's idea. i liked it because it was easy to manufacture and stable. however, alignment of the rings was difficult and the center column of pennies was not continuously supported to the bottom. the bottom 140 pennies are staggered in rows of 1 (i wish we continued that to the top :roll:) and after that it's rows of 10. the pile survived a spilled drink and 2 partial collapses around 900. towards the end, the center column was sagging. penny width was kinda funky too. the surface was a plate of aquarium glass to protect my table and a small wooden cutting board i shimmed to be level. the tower didn't fail us, we failed the tower :(
 
YOyoYOhowsDAjello

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
31,204
45
91
Ok, fair chance out to people who want to give it another shot...

The teaser video was 1302 pennies when I ran out of pennies. I then put that stack of 100 DVDs on it and then attempted the 10 pound weight.

I'm going to attempt another shot at it tomorrow to try to get it a bit better. If I can replicate the original design and get the same performance out of it, I should be able to add a couple hundred over the 1302 mark.
 
YOyoYOhowsDAjello

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
31,204
45
91
Ok, poll is up.

I made a tower earlier today with the help of my sister.

It was 2,312 pennies supported when I ran out of pennies again.

We decided that rather than stacking more stuff on top of it, it would be more fun to spray the columns with water to weaken them into collapse.

(Pictures and video of my third version tower are in the OP).

Columns were shaped with the use of a CD spindle. I made small notches in them so the Post-It columns wouldn't unravel.
I made a single height 15 penny layer followed by a single height 14 penny layer.
From then on, I alternated the two patterns with 5-height penny columns. The structure seemed quite sturdy even at the time that I ran out of pennies.
 
Freshgeardude

Freshgeardude

Diamond Member
Jul 31, 2006
4,506
0
76
well we all know you won the penny contest lol, even voted for you on that one. I think I should get the reciprocal for the creative one :)
 
The Boston Dangler

The Boston Dangler

Lifer
Mar 10, 2005
14,647
2
0
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Ok, poll is up.

I made a tower earlier today with the help of my sister.

It was 2,312 pennies supported when I ran out of pennies again.

We decided that rather than stacking more stuff on top of it, it would be more fun to spray the columns with water to weaken them into collapse.

(Pictures and video of my third version tower are in the OP).

Columns were shaped with the use of a CD spindle. I made small notches in them so the Post-It columns wouldn't unravel.
I made a single height 15 penny layer followed by a single height 14 penny layer.
From then on, I alternated the two patterns with 5-height penny columns. The structure seemed quite sturdy even at the time that I ran out of pennies.
Click to expand...

over 2 kilopennies, i am impressed! could you elaborate on the notches?
 
YOyoYOhowsDAjello

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
31,204
45
91
Originally posted by: Freshgeardude
well we all know you won the penny contest lol, even voted for you on that one. I think I should get the reciprocal for the creative one :)
Click to expand...

We'll see ;)
 
YOyoYOhowsDAjello

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
31,204
45
91
Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler

over 2 kilopennies, i am impressed! could you elaborate on the notches?
Click to expand...

Yeah, I thought 2000 was going to be overkill, but I got $10 worth in addition to the $13 I used to build the previous tower (the one from the teaser video).

This was my first design with notches.

I don't know if it was humidity or something else, but my cylindrical columns were not staying together right. I replaced a few of them during the build process, but eventually several of them were failing even after replacement.

Rather than give up, I made some notches in the columns in an attempt to keep them from unraveling.

Notches are seen here.
http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/A...hallenge/YOengW2_2.jpg

It kept the columns together all the way to the end.

Bonus video - my gf's tower - 1,190
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvZ5mWKA3tY

Bonus video 2 - my sister's tower - 980
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvJAXXlZYc4
 
YOyoYOhowsDAjello

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
31,204
45
91
...assuming I win the vote for Week 2 Engineering...

Does this seem like an interesting challenge?

Horizontal structure supporting a penny

The only surface your structure can touch is the top of a table / desk / whatever you choose as long as the top surface is parallel to the floor

Post-Its and Pennies can be anywhere in the design, but the measurement will be parallel to the floor from the edge of the table to the nearest edge of your penny

(Limit on number of Post-Its and Pennies to be determined)
 
Freshgeardude

Freshgeardude

Diamond Member
Jul 31, 2006
4,506
0
76
enough with post-it notes, lets move on to something else (the comp paper and tape tower for instance) and maybe go back to post it notes in a few weeks
 
YOyoYOhowsDAjello

YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Aug 6, 2001
31,204
45
91
Originally posted by: Freshgeardude
enough with post-it notes, lets move on to something else (the comp paper and tape tower for instance) and maybe go back to post it notes in a few weeks
Click to expand...

I've been pleased with Post-It notes for being ubiquitous and standardized.

If we move on to other materials, I would like to keep a high level of standardization of the equipment so it comes down to actual engineering vs. material differences.

If we did do another type of paper, I don't know if we can pick something that has those qualities.

What about newspaper? Is that standardized enough?
Pages out of a phone book?

Even something like paperclips could have a lot of variety.

What other standardized materials are there that are easily accessible to almost everyone?
 
C

Crono

Lifer
Aug 8, 2001
23,720
1,502
136
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
What other standardized materials are there that are easily accessible to almost everyone?
Click to expand...

Index cards, if you specify size.
Toothpicks
Paper clips
 
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