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  • I need some quick ideas

    Nevermind my lack my lack of parenting skills at the moment....
    But I have been roped into a egg drop....They are going to drop eggs that are in a 6"x 6"x6" box, and I guess increase the hight each time untill they have a winner.
    Shreaded news paper didn't work....and I'm sitting here eating the left over popcorn from another failed attempt.
    I just re-read the instructions again and it says parachutes are ok....so I'm going to give that a try...
    Anyone have any ideas as what I can stuff in the box or how I can wrap an egg in so it will survive?
    Originally posted by TC
    also boost will make the cam act smaller

  • #2
    Re: I need some quick ideas

    Carve a close-fitting cavity in a block of foam rubber. Think like a car crash, you want to stop the "secondary collision" from occuring.

    Worked for our team back in high school physics!

    Of all the paths you take in life - make sure a few of them are dirt.

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    • #3
      Re: I need some quick ideas

      Originally posted by A/Fuel
      Nevermind my lack my lack of parenting skills at the moment....
      But I have been roped into a egg drop....They are going to drop eggs that are in a 6"x 6"x6" box, and I guess increase the hight each time untill they have a winner.
      Shreaded news paper didn't work....and I'm sitting here eating the left over popcorn from another failed attempt.
      I just re-read the instructions again and it says parachutes are ok....so I'm going to give that a try...
      Anyone have any ideas as what I can stuff in the box or how I can wrap an egg in so it will survive?
      Stiney is dead on. We did a little better in our similar HS competition by using layers of increasing density foam. Softest stuff closest to the egg. Hardest stuff on the bottom. We used a small chute to keep the box oriented properly - our egg wasn't "dead center" but at the very top of the box so there was more distance for the foam to do it's thing, slowing down the egg over a greater distance.

      hint: egg orientation is important too, I forget which direction was best, I think having the pointy end upwards? test that to be sure.
      www.realtuners.com - catch the RealTuners Radio Podcast on Youtube, Facebook, iTunes, and anywhere else podcasts are distributed!

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      • #4
        Re: I need some quick ideas

        Thanks...
        I just so happen to have some foam, and just carved out a little pocket for the egg...After I'm done eating my popcorn I'm going to fab up a make shift parachute....
        Nothing like finding out about a project a few hours before the contest, lol.
        pointy end up huh...
        Originally posted by TC
        also boost will make the cam act smaller

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: I need some quick ideas

          SHREAD THE FOAM PEANUTS..
          (BLENDER WORKS GREAT HERE) ;D
          OR get the packing air bags..
          they are 4",4",3" and rap egg in it..
          also freeze the eggs to 33* so they are almost frozen

          highschool phis winner here ;)

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          • #6
            Re: I need some quick ideas

            Think crack filler foam, you know that expanding foam in a can at Home Depot. Get the regular stuff, no need for the super expanding stuff. Now line the box with plastic, take the can of foam and put a layer of foam on half of hte bottom of the box, then take a plastic bag and hold it so it's in the middle of the box and goes all the way down to the foam. Now while holding the bag spray the foam on the other side of the bottom and then spray another layer over both sides. Now take the egg and drop it into the bag that is now in the middle of the foam, close the bag and continue spraying layers of foam until the egg is covered by two layers of foam with the bag in the middle sticking out the top. Now put a layer of plastic over the top of the foam and secure the top of the box on the the box. Wait a couple of hours and remove the top and what you will have is a perfectly formed foam case for the egg. Now just remove the plastic from the foam and that little bag in the middle with the egg in it makes splitting the foam a breeze. Anyway remove all plastic, put the egg back in the middle of foam and slide the foam block back into the box.

            It's kind of like what we did for one of my old bosses race car seat. We put a bag in the seat, had him sit in it and then filled it full of foam. He sat there for a couple of hours and then we pried him out of it and he had a custom seat formed just for him. ;)

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            • #7
              Re: I need some quick ideas

              In the ones I've done, you have to be able to remove the egg when you're done.
              - the greater the mass, the harder the object will hit the ground.
              - the box that has the greatest lift works best.
              - cheat the shape a bit by creating surfaces that get the egg box going sideways so it doesn't hit the ground squarely.

              Tips.... airfoils are your friend, thus a box made of a toothpick frame (in my case, chopsticks) around a egg carrier of the lightest cushion foam you can find works excellent. The last one I made used a toothpick frame around a 6x6 square box of egg crate foam (the stuff they pack computer stuff, musical instruments, and cameras in).
              Doing it all wrong since 1966

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              • #8
                Re: I need some quick ideas

                Needed or not, I think I'll add my two cents.

                1. Imagine that the egg, with a reasonable amount of support under it to de-concentrate loading such as might be provided by foam rubber etc., can withstand a particular decelerative g-force before breaking.

                2. Now imagine the distance between the point where the egg is first brought into influence and where it is supposed to stop.

                The trick will be to catch that egg, give it some support, then as soon as possible commit it to an even g-force appropriate to the distance you have to stop it in, while never exceeding the max force it can handle. It's no use to give it a soft initial hit then go "blammo" at the bottom, or to have it hit a material which has a lot of give behind it but delivers a hard initial impact.

                I.E. the material you have under it will need to first provide support across the widest possible area then immediately offer resistance...then deliver an even amount of resistance throughout the distance the egg would travel to meet the bottom of the box.

                To partially agree with Ironhead I'd say a varied mix of shredded and unshredded packing peanuts would be a good bet.
                ...

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                • #9
                  Re: I need some quick ideas

                  I was thinking along the lines of what TC said, but using a vasoline smeared egg, part fill the box, let is set just a minute, put the egg in it and fill it up to teh top, then cut the foam so the egg can be removed.
                  To go one step further you might even be able to make mounting tabs and use rubber bands to suspend the foam inside the box (although 6x6 is not very large). best start researching parachutes too!

                  btw, odd thing about the foam racing seats, we used to do that at barber dodge.... odd....

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                  • #10
                    Re: I need some quick ideas

                    lay a chicken on the ground upside down then drop the egg on the chicken, they are made for each other

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: I need some quick ideas

                      A friend of my Dad's said this worked for him and his son's project.
                      '
                      Using the theory the egg can't break if it has no where to break too, he got a 2.5" or 3" dia. iron pipe, and very firm padding, not really forgiving but allowed enough varience for slightly different egg sizes to be wrapped firmly slide into the pipe with caps screwed on it. And as long as the egg didn't break while wrapped and being squeezed into the pipe he swore the egg didn't break even after dropping it on cement from a second floor window. Claimed to of tied for first place with someone who used a parachute method as the heights were continually raised to the point of the second floor and landing on concrete, and neither egg broke.
                      Escaped on a technicality.

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                      • #12
                        Re: I need some quick ideas

                        the crash doesn't kill you, it's the sudden deceleration ;)
                        Doing it all wrong since 1966

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                        • #13
                          Re: I need some quick ideas

                          Build a lightweight box frame. Put the egg into the (cut off) leg of a pair of nylons and secure the nylon to the frame, pulling it taut so there is only a little bit of give. Attach your parachute to the frame. You now have a very lightweight container/shock absorber that will be slowed and steadied by the parachute.
                          I'm probably wrong

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                          • #14
                            Re: I need some quick ideas

                            Thanks again everyone...It survived! I cut a little pocket out of two halfs of foam that I got out of a box of victory valves, and duct taped it togather, and just put it in the box. Then I made a parachute out of a trash bag and yarn. I tried to fold the chute just like you do on a dragster, and that appeared to be the key. Because it opened and it just floated to the ground.
                            The local Fire Dept brought out their tower truck and extended the boom all the way up and droped them from there.
                            There were lots of non-opening chutes, exploading boxes, and ones you could tell without opening that didn't survive.
                            TC, had I had time I probably would have tried your idea, but I was informed of this little project a mear few hours before and I didn't have the stuff you mentioned or the time to make it happen.
                            Originally posted by TC
                            also boost will make the cam act smaller

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: I need some quick ideas

                              More proof that this is the best damned garage on the net --- where else could a guy get useful experienced advice on an egg drop contest - in the narrow window of time he had left to finish the project!

                              NICE WORK!
                              There's always something new to learn.

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