Science Olympiad Tower Building Jigs by rehhee

rehhee

Education>Engineering

Print Profile(4)

All

X1 Carbon

P1S

P1P

X1E

2024 Tower Jig - B Bonus

Designer

10.3 h

1 plate

5.0(1)

2024 Tower Jig - B

Designer

8.3 h

1 plate

2024 Tower Jig - C

Designer

9.6 h

1 plate

2024 Tower Jig - C Bonus

Designer

11.8 h

1 plate

Boost

Released

Description

Tower building jigs for the 2024 Science Olympiad Tower event

These jigs are enhanced versions of the jigs created by the the excellent YouTube channel Balsa Engineering.

The jigs are for building towers with the following dimensions:

b: height 505mm. Bottom internal side width 147mm. Top internal side width 35mm
b bonus: 505mm x 210mm x 35mm
c: 606mm x 147mm x 35mm
c bonus: 606mm x 210mm x 35mm

Please check these dimensions match the current rules and check the actual dimensions of your 3d print.

The improvements are:

Requires less filament
Prints on a single print plate
The sections nest for easy storage and transport
There are alignment tabs on the top of each piece so the sections line up nicely
Less contact with uprights to help avoid gluing the wood to the jig
The sections have marks at regular intervals so the markings on the uprights can be checked (measure twice, glue once)

The side marking are in 24 sections (using the section breaks and dots). This allows crossmembers at any of the factors of 24 (2, 3, 4, 6, 8,12) to be quickly checked for accurate placement.

It is recommended you tape together the sections when building your tower. Especially if you are gluing your tower on its side.

When printing, it is recommended you use an inside and outside brim.

Comment & Rating (5)

@Tegami

Print Profile

2024 Tower Jig - B Bonus

Great!! Easy to print, excellent way to store after use!

The designer has replied

@rehhee

Thanks! I hope the event went well.

@Oliver_Schulz

veryusefull :thumps_up:

@user_2041148337

Unfortunately after printing this jig, the dimensions are wrong. The top of the tower is way too narrow. It is 3.5cm, while the load block for the competition is 5cm. Thus the tower triangle angle is more acute, thus weaker. As for max strength, you would want to make sure it is closer to 42 degrees vs 38 degrees that this jig is. Would be awesome if this was redesigned for the 5cm load block vs 3.5cm. As the design is awesome, just can not it for 2024 competition.

The designer has replied

@rehhee

Hi. There is actually an interesting trade off. You're correct, a more vertical tower is stronger, but it's also heavier as you need more material. As your score is the weight your tower can hold is divided by the weight of your tower. There are pros and cons to both depending on your design. The 35mm at the top is the inside diameter of the tower. If that was 50mm on the jig, the loading block would drop straight through your tower! Allowing an extra 6.35mm for the thickness of the material (if you're using 1/8" material) gives 41.4mm, around 4mm of overhang with the loading block on each corner. The maximum I could make the top would be 43mm - but then you'd need to place the loading block absolutely perfectly! This would change the angle from the vertical by about 0.5 degrees (6.919 vs 7.446 for non-bonus tower C) ... but increase the weight of the tower. For this year, I decided to use the same dimensions as Balsa Engineering's jigs as people had already started to build and test towers using those. In the future, I may put a page together that lets you generate an STL with the exact dimensions you want. Good luck in the event.

(Edited)

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