How To Improve A Boomilever
understand what to improve
Before you go and make any massive changes to your boomilever, you need to analyze what areas of your device you should improve.
If your boomilever is able to hold the full load, the you should try yo reduce your boomilever’s weight.
If your boomilever is not holding the full load, then focus on improving the boomilever’s strength.
reducing weight
low density wood
If your boomilever is able to hold the full load without breaking, then the wood you are using may be too heavy or dense.
If you use lighter wood, especially for the main compression members, you can eliminate a large portion of excess weight that was a part of your previous design. However, it is important to be aware of the fact tat low density wood is weaker than higher density wood and may reduce the overall efficiency of your boomilever if you don’t carefully balance wood density.
reduce Bracing
A mistake that most beginners make is that the use an excess of bracing to make their boomilever. Additionally, many builders tend to use extremely thick and dense wood pieces to form lateral bracing.
To optimize your boomilever for weight, you want to reduce the amount of bracing you have, which may not be necessary depending on the strength of your members.
Generally, if you use light 1/16 x 1/16 balsa strips to create 6 lateral bracing sections on both sides of your boomilever’s compression members, then you should be in good shape in terms of bracing.
thinner glue
If your boomilever is too heavy, you may be using a heavy form of adhesion like wood glue, epoxy, silicone gel, or other bulky adhesive.
If you want to reduce weight then you should try to use lighter glue, like super glue, to create your boomilever.
improving strength
High Density Wood
If your boomilever is not able to hold the full load without breaking, then the wood you are using may not be heavy or dense enough.
If you use heavier wood, especially for the main compression members, you can increase the efficiency of your boomilever compared to your previous design. However, it is important to be aware of the fact that high density wood is heavier than higher density wood and may reduce the overall efficiency of your boomilever if you don’t carefully balance wood density.
Increase bracing
To optimize your boomilever for strength, you want to increase the amount of bracing you have, which may not be necessary depending on the strength of your members.
Generally, if you use light 1/16 x 1/16 balsa strips to create 6 lateral bracing sections on both sides of your boomilever’s compression members, then you should be in good shape in terms of bracing.
thicker glue
If your boomilever is too weak, you may be using a light form of adhesion like super glue to build your boomilever.
If you want to increase strength then you should try to use thicker glue, like gorilla glue or wood glue, to create your boomilever.
advanvced methods
Storage Humidity
If you keep a boomilever or any other wooden device in a humid storage are, like a greenhouse, then your boomilever may experience weaker glue joints and end up heavier than when you created it.
Therefore, you should try to keep you boomilever in an area with a low amount of humidity to improve results.
baking your boomilever
Note that this tactic should only be used when competing at a high level competition where every gram of weight matters.
The method of baking a boomilever is essentially a process of removing water and humidity from the boomilever by lightly heating it in an oven. However, this strategy is not recommended for new builders because baking a boomilever requires a lot of time, patience, and skill to perfect and may only lead to shaving off less than 1g of weight.