TSO-F Day 5: Building Continues Despite Intermittent Mist

In a full shift from the sunny skies bestowed on Tinkerers the day before, clouds and intermittent mist covered the build sites, Thursday. Such weather did little to deter the Tinkerers, though, and many teams advanced their projects with great shine.

“This is really fun. I’ve never used power tools before so this is really fun,” junior Tinkerer, Sergio, happily said as he finished cutting out two plywood flamingos using the jigsaw.

Junior Tinkerer, Sergio, marks the outline of the second flamingo he will cut using the jigsaw.

“We’re calling it the Pink Flamingo,” Trevor added as he painted the hanging zip line cart pink to match the pink pool noodles pieces they installed as a backrest.

The excitement carried over to the nearby roller coaster-slide ride as Jake climbed out of the seat of his team’s cart that he had just ridden rolling backwards on a rope and pulley and down a hill.

“Do it! Do it! It’s so fun,” Jake excitedly said. “You just go to the top and, phume, you let go!”

Junior Tinkerer, Fisher, seats himself for a backward and downward sloping ride his team has built.

By the end of the day, the merry-go-round team had attached a swing to their hanging merry-go-round that required several people to hoist into the air when a rider was aboard. Modifications will include at least one more swing and possibly a few more pulleys to ease the hoisting weight.

At the senior camp, Tinkerers completed the track and were able to test run the cart and wheels they had modified earlier in the day. With several successful runs down the sloping loop, the seniors will now need to construct a pulley lift system to get their cart back up the hill.

Oliver, Alex, Samuel, and Alex work together to install modified wheel blocks on their roller coaster cart.

“I’m so proud of this,” senior Tinkerer, Oliver, said after the first successful test run. He and several others had labored continually throughout the day to perfect the cart wheel blocks.

Finally, in an independent project conceived by senior Tinkerer, Reis, the Strongman Challenge was tested and nearly finished. Tinkerers, it turns out, are too strong for the current model, and Reis will need to extend the strength gauge taller than its current 8 foot.

Check out the photo slideshow and video of Tinkerers during their third build day.