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Oklahoma Suspension Bridge

Step 6Building the deck

Building the deck
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Once the bridge was in the air, the garden variety work of deck building got under way. 2x8x16 lumber for decking, 2x4x16 for the hand rails, 5/4x6x16 decking for the facing boards on the handrail system.

The handrail system is an integral part of a suspension bridge - the two handrails form the trusses that provide most of the rigidity to the bridge. Without the trusses, the bridge is an elevated snake. With them, it is incredibly stable.

To make the handrails into trusses, we placed cut-to-length 2x4s from the top of one handrail support to the bottom of the next, working our way from both ends to the middle. The bridge is all but unusable without adequate trusses - witness the failure of the Tacoma Narrows bridge, due entirely to insufficient stiffness.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/tnbhistory/Connections/connections3.htm

Entirely unexpected was the genuine beauty of the bridge. Through what can only be sheer luck, the finished bridge is simply magnificent.


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14 comments
Oct 31, 2011. 9:57 AMhandydave937 says:
That is some project. I'm sure there are several special words used to get it all together.
Feb 2, 2011. 1:40 AMg.petinati says:
This is awesome!

I'm an architect and I can say that this bridge really brought something special to the property.

Bravo!
Oct 12, 2010. 8:09 AMnfarrow says:
Really cool. Do you have anymore images of the bridge?
Sep 13, 2010. 6:54 AMRAF2 says:

Very nice!

That is a lot of work, but the feeling of getting the job (well) done is priceless.

Greetings,
Sep 12, 2010. 4:09 PMDELETED_gustavoindustry says:
(removed by author or community request)
Sep 12, 2010. 11:32 AMdeetip2003 says:
I am so beyond impressed. Would love to have one but participating in building one would surfice..lol. Great Job Jake.
Sep 12, 2010. 1:16 PMktkeith says:
Fantastic project! Congratulations!

Just to be clear, though: there is no tension-adjusting mechanism on the vertical stays? You calculated the length of each stay assembly at each joist, built them to that length, and installed them that way without any further fine-tuning possible, is that right?

It obviously worked great, but what would happen if one of the assemblies was slightly off-length? And how do you deal with creep (stretch) in the suspension cables and vertical stays?

Sep 12, 2010. 6:54 AMBigAl67 says:
I had felt pretty good about carving that walnut into a neckerchief slide, but after seeing what you've done, well that is just too impressive. I saw something similar done in Cambodia years ago but they had dozens of people working on it. Very nice Cheers!
Sep 12, 2010. 11:11 AMcasperdub says:
Inspirational work...
there are so many cool projects on this site & this is one is one of those that keeps yah seeing & doing more...
I have a blog http://casperdub.blogspot.com (scrapbook) of my work which you might find interesting (the folding, sideways sliding kids-scale chairs video begins automatically part way down the blog)
perhaps I should enter something here...
this is my first time ever commenting on this site...
thanks for sharing the process.
Sep 10, 2010. 9:11 AMDennis.x.i says:
Nicely done, I love this project. But the suspension cable isn't secured to the pillars on real suspension bridges they hang over them and are secured to the ground behind the pillars to allow them to move so that the pillars aren't being pulled front to back(if I'm not mistaking). Although it probable doesn't make a difference on a bridge of this size , I thought I'd share it. :)
forgive me my English I'm from Belgium.
Sep 10, 2010. 3:57 PMDennis.x.i says:
I didn't mean to call the bridge not a real suspension bridge, I was just wondering.
grts
Sep 10, 2010. 5:15 AMRmal says:
really cool!

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Author:Jakebutnottheone