Building the Canyon Diablo Bridge


I've been working on a video project for my church since Wednesday night. I have more work to do on it tonight then should be able to get back to the bridge tomorrow.
 
Finished the upper cross beams. Now it's on to the upper inspection walkways.

Finished Upper Crossbeams.jpg
 
SQC (stupid question coming)

Are you cutting the plastic sheet directly on your granite countertop? No cutting board?

Awesome Work!
 
This has got to be the most difficult part of building this bridge.
I've been wrestling with how to do this for the past week and decided this is the easiest way.
Still, just this one walk way took almost two hours to get it in place and the handrails are still all screwy.
Where I need the glue to set up quickly, it takes a long time. In other places I need to make an adjustment, the glue sets up almost instantly. Very frustrating.
When tryin to hold the angle iron with tweezers, it will twist to a 45 degree angle away from where I need to get it to contact a surface.
This type of walk way runs the length of the bridge.

0526172026.jpg
 
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When I did my ore bridge, I pre-assembled the walkways with the handrails and just slid them into place. Of course, they were not prototypically based like what you're doing. Your handrails look perfectly fine to my untrained eyes.
 
That really looks fantastic. It really must be a pain having to work in such a confined space. I have done some work in confined spaces and didn't enjoy it at all, but my cousin who was a nurse sent me a hoard of hemostats that weren't up to snuff for the operation room. They have really been a life saver when working on model railroad projects.

The build is coming along nicely. You are going to have a masterpiece when it is completed and on your layout.

Can't wait for progress updates.
 
I have a Hemostat for this work. I need to put a soft cover over the jaws so they will hold the angle iron parts better. Right now they tend to slip to a 45 degree angle from how I need them positioned because of the hard surface on plastic contact. Yeah, my language is course sometimes.
 
I can imagine that you may have uttered some colorful words. Quite a job. I have a couple of sets of hemostats that I dipped into a rubber solution similar to what is used on tool handles. It has turned out to be very helpful. I probably have 30 sets of hemostats with different tips on them. Really handy.
 
Trying a little different approach to installing the walkways. I install the upright supports first then the hand rails.
This is in the second section of the bridge from the end. It also has the inspection baskets that extend out from the sides of the bridge too.
Walkway 3.jpg


Walkway 1.jpg
 
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Ken - You sure have a lot of patience. Years ago I may have thought about attempting something like your build, but I can't see anything like that in my future now. Really nice work.
 
I'm approaching the cat walk from a different perspective. I'm assembling the handrails before installing the walkway in the bridge. Here I completed the walkway. I'll let the glue setup over night then try installing it tomorrow.
The ends of the walkway that have the handrail across the walkway are the inspection baskets. The other ends butt up against the bridge cross bracing I beams.

0421181535.jpg
 
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KEN in VA Just for my edification, and as that is an excllent photo.... just what are the dementions (in inches) of that assembly?
I know that you have to be working with small size strips - what size are they.
It looks awesome!
 
The handrails are 3/64". The walkway is 3/8" wide.
The walkway is 5" side to side and 4 1/4" long.
I am cutting the walkways from a .020" sheet styrene.
 
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