Continuing the discussion from DMS April 2016 Show and Tell:
Apparently they have had several follow-ups
Darn you @Nick I suspect I am going to waste the entire day watching replays of this Supreme Skills shows. Just finished one where using 500g of wood they were able to create a bridge span capable of supporting 1,400 Kg
Your all welcome,
The entire series is great. The fact that they jump into the detail of the design process while the competitions are going on is my favorite part. Plus, both teams come across as legitimately talented and not just I’ll take my try at this Americans. Which probably has more to do with my american view of Asian craftsmanship vs the view of American craftsmanship as seen on TV.
While I am very impressed with the quality of the skill and technology on the five programs I have watched so far, I am most impressed by the character of the competition. No end zone dances, or stomping off when you loose. In short, a culture that doesn’t appear to allow competition to bring out bad character displays.
I am also amazed at the money the companies who are participating, are spending on these competitions. In that second top competition I would be surprised if the internal cost in parts and labor weren’t close to the six figures for the ‘tech’ company.
I disagree with your analysis of the competition, I didn’t get the feeling that the engineers built a faulty top. They made a choice between friction and stability. The ball had less point friction but also had less stability. The machinists had a much more stable design and payed for that by dealing with more point friction. In the end the wobble was less efficient than no wobble and more point friction. Held in a vacuum the results may have been different???
I’m hoping the pinewood derby will work as a competition of this nature for DMS.
Also, the visual respect shown in the show is amazing, it almost seems that if either team had met during the design process that they would of shared nearly every secret with the other team.
To clarify, I don’t think their top was faulty, but rather the craftsmanship was less then their competitor. Which shouldn’t come as a surprise since their competitor consisted of machinists that were 70+ years old and had decades of experience. It was that different level of craftsmanship that I think made the difference. I suspect the engineer’s design was better and that if it had been crafted with the same level of skill as the machinists top it would have won.
What was even more surprising was that in the second competition they nearly doubled the length of time the top was able to spin, 32 minutes
Whats funny is that the time is called when the top falls off the post. The rules lawyer in me want to make a top that can stop spinning while staying on the post. 