Hey guys it’s me again, First Timer. I came up with a good way to practice bridge building either before or for the next competition and/or just to keep your bridge building skills good, whether it be science fair or Science Olympiad. It’s building different bridge designs with K-NEX, Erector Sets, and/or LEGOs. Most of you probably own one or more of the following and it really helps practicing basic truss design.
I came up with the idea when I was looking through my closet for my scale for a new bridge (about to become Second Timer) and stumbled across a box of K-NEX. I took them out and started messing around with basic trusses to glue to a Poster board I had to turn in. Then I thought why not just make full bridges and weigh them to find out the best truss for a situation. You can also make towers with those things to some their good for any situation. I built a K-Truss and it held my entire brother (80 lbs), a stool (25 lbs), and a piece of plywood (.5 lbs).
I know its K-NEX not balsa, but still it’s always satisfactory to run out of materials to put on a bridge. It’s also fast to do it took me 25 minutes to build that K-Truss and look at how well it did. Also more recently I built a Warren Truss and it held 40 kilograms and weighed .1 of a kilogram which puts efficiency at 400. And for a plastic child’s toys I think that’s pretty good. So go ahead and try it. You can “Truss-t” me!
You should post a few pictures!
Yea I was having some problems with my camera but now that i know people want them i will take them again and post them and maybe some materials list on how to build this specific tower thanks for the comment!! = D
You might know this already, but Knex has bridge building kits that are really neat.
Cool! So did you stand up the bridge as pictured, and have your brother, etc. sit on it? Or did you lay it down horizontally? What are the dimensions, if you don’t mind me asking? I’m working on a K’nex bridge project as well, and I’m just looking for general ideas. Nice bridge!