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paper tower help

A

Alan Turing

Junior Member
I have to build a tower of 1.6 m which can support 1.25 kg (placed on the top) using tape and paper for an assignment, but I don't know where to start. Any suggestions? 😕
 
It's all about the trusses. Make a pylon or pyramid base using rolled paper beams.
 
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If the average text book is made of paper and is 1 inch thick, that's 12 text books per foot or about 40 textbooks stacked on top of one another for 1.6 meters. I bet it holds WAY more than the couple of pounds you're required to hold. Stick a piece of tape on the last textbook to make your teacher happy.
 
Thanks! I was just hoping to get some ideas actually. We have unlimited paper and tape, but the less paper we use the better. I have tried a few designs, but the tower keeps collapsing/bending. Are there any ways to improve this?
 
Pulsar said:
If the average text book is made of paper and is 1 inch thick, that's 12 text books per foot or about 40 textbooks stacked on top of one another for 1.6 meters. I bet it holds WAY more than the couple of pounds you're required to hold. Stick a piece of tape on the last textbook to make your teacher happy.
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Brute force requires little engineering. Also, if you go that route, advanced tools like estimating aren't allowed. 😀
 
Alan Turing said:
Thanks! I was just hoping to get some ideas actually. We have unlimited paper and tape, but the less paper we use the better. I have tried a few designs, but the tower keeps collapsing/bending. Are there any ways to improve this?
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Cut and roll the paper into (small and relatively thin) tight tubes (they will basically be your paper girders), tape the tubes closed, make cutouts near the ends to form half joints, then tape them together. If you truss each story (think the Eiffel tower) in addition to using vertical and horizontal beams leading up to a flat top to support the weight, it should be pretty stable. You don't want anything with a bend unless you intentionally create an arch somewhere.

If you are using long paper tubes, it's going to fail under its own weight, so make sure you are using a lot of smaller braced tubes, whatever your design is.
 
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OP fails the part of this project that calls for critical thinking (should've gone to Yahoo Answers or something).
 
take about 3 sheets and roll them into a tight cylinder and tape it up

repeat 99 times and stand them vertically in a 10x10 grid and tape the whole thing together into one block

make five more blocks and stack them on top of each other with some flat paper between them to distribute the load

alternatively take about 50 sheets and fold into a triangle and tape it up. build a bunch more triangles and stack horizontally
 
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you are not thinking outside the box, or in this case the packaging box.

get a couple of cases of paper in reams, stack jenga style until 1.6m tall. should only cost 80-100$. done presto.
 
I remember doing this in kindergarten, and I will gladly sell you the plans for the low, low price of $100, but act fast, as it is a limited time offer, before the price goes back up to $500.
As a special bonus, mention AT's #1 poster and for a small S&H charge of $1000 you will get a free ipad!
 
Fold the paper like an accordion to give it strength.

Keep making accordion circles and tape them together. Larger diameters at the bottom, flat paper for stability and good contact between layers. Though try to have one accordion layer overlapping another ideally.

Stick to the same folding pattern, say 2 inch folds.

Have one person measure and draw lines and another fold them over with something like a pen with really nice folds by running something hard down the spine of the fold on a hard surface.. Tape the paper accordions together into circles, like 4-5 sheets of paper taped together in a circle. Stong as fuck.

Each level should have paper accordion circles of smaller circumferences inside. That shit would hold 10kg 😉 Something like 8 paper accordions into a circle, then 7 inside it, 6 inside that, 5 inside that, etc.

Then at the next level 7,6,5,4 etc.

So... in summary. Fold sheets of paper like an accordion. Tape like 8 of them into a circle. Do the same but with 7, place it inside the 8. Do the same with 6, place it inside that. Keep doing that until you are content. Lay some flat paper down and do the next level.

You need 7 sheet widths to make it to 1.6m.

So go more like...
8,7,6,5,4,3 level 1
8,7,6,5,4,3 level 2
7,6,5,4,3,2 level 3
7,6,5,4,3,2 level 4
7,6,5,4,3,2 level 5
6,5,4,3,2,1 level 6
6,5,4,3,2,1 level 7
 
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Crono said:
Cut and roll the paper into (small and relatively thin) tight tubes (they will basically be your paper girders), tape the tubes closed, make cutouts near the ends to form half joints, then tape them together. If you truss each story (think the Eiffel tower) in addition to using vertical and horizontal beams leading up to a flat top to support the weight, it should be pretty stable. You don't want anything with a bend unless you intentionally create an arch somewhere.

If you are using long paper tubes, it's going to fail under its own weight, so make sure you are using a lot of smaller braced tubes, whatever your design is.
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This is a bad idea. The paper is going to buckle.
 
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Alan Turing said:
I have to build a tower of 1.6 m which can support 1.25 kg (placed on the top) using tape and paper for an assignment, but I don't know where to start. Any suggestions? 😕
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Shit... when I got this assignment I immediately told my group to roll tubes and tape them together. I thought about freeway overpasses. The fucking teacher thought I cheated! I utterly hatted that dick! We used construction paper. Is that what this is?
 
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