How on earth does this work?

[Hoop27]

We were finishing off our budget monster field (pics to come!) and we were having an issue with too much vibration at midfield, after trying a couple things I recalled something about a strip of duct tape across the over active area.

Well we tried it and watched our player just go from end to end with no issues. I'll be honest I was shocked and dumbfounded that it worked.

However I can't wrap it around my brain how this actually works and it's driving me nuts! Can someone who is much smarter than I am (brighter than a house cat would qualify) explain why this works before I go mad?

[FrustratedFinFan]

Here is my take on it...

The vibrations come in waves, radiating out from the source. The metal (or other chosen surface for the board) acts as the medium through which the waves travel. In the case of metal, the material is a good medium for the wave propagation to take place. Add a flexible magnet swatch under an active spot, or duct tape, and that material serves to dampen or break up the wave pattern in that area....It might be a combination of the tape and/or magnet not being a good material for wave propagation....as well as the added weight inhibiting the motion/vibration of the metal....not positive there.

[WEIRDWOLF]

It's very simple...its white magic electric voodoo!

Actually Fin probably is pretty right on or at lest darn close.

[roller]

Originally Posted by FrustratedFinFan

Here is my take on it...

The vibrations come in waves, radiating out from the source. The metal (or other chosen surface for the board) acts as the medium through which the waves travel. In the case of metal, the material is a good medium for the wave propagation to take place. Add a flexible magnet swatch under an active spot, or duct tape, and that material serves to dampen or break up the wave pattern in that area....It might be a combination of the tape and/or magnet not being a good material for wave propagation....as well as the added weight inhibiting the motion/vibration of the metal....not positive there.

This is exactly how it works!!!!

The tape acts as damper to the vibration. It acts in much the same way as if you put your finger on the board while it is running. Where you touch the board, the material is dampened.

I've seen many references to our gameboards acting like pools of water, with waves bouncing all around. While all vibration shares some aspects, our gameboards are fixed plates that act more like guitar strings or sound boards when vibration is introduced. Ernst Chladni was a pioneer in this field... very OLD school. Worth looking up...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Chladni

[Hoop27]

Bottom line is it works! Thank you for all the explanations. I'll explain it to others as EF white magic

[canadatabletopgames]

can't wait to see the results.


Take it easy and have a good one

Benster from north of the border

[WEIRDWOLF]

Originally Posted by Hoop27

Bottom line is it works! Thank you for all the explanations. I'll explain it to others as EF white magic

I personally like "electric voodoo" ©! That would be a great name for a band!

[styx]

Originally Posted by WEIRDWOLF

I personally like "electric voodoo" ©! That would be a great name for a band!

YOU SHOULD PRINT THAT ON NEXT YRS. M.F,C.A. T-SHIRTS (ELECTRIC VOODOO ) AND PICTURE A BOARD WITH MEN RUNNING BY THEMSELVES that would be cool.

[Pirate Rick]

the duct tape absorbs and "changes" the vibration frequency slighty which gives the board a smoother vibration range and less jumpy figures.

it can get really technical if you want to dive into the whole dynamics of it but the best way to understand it is to think of it this way.....

if you throw a rock into a pool of still water you get perfect ripples that radiate out from the place where the rock hit the water and they stay that way till the hit something...like the side of the pool then they start to bounce back and start to collide with each other making turbulance to the other ripples.

the vibration is the same way.... it starts out smooth but by the time it travels down the field it starts to collide with the other "waves" and makes the bouncy running you described.... the tape absorbs those rouge waves and allows the original vibrations to continue uninterupted down the field..

hope that helps.