Trout Brook Bridge - Official Work Thread

[Bob Holmes]

Assembly of second truss completed today.  Workday scheduled for Tuesday, perhaps to begin to start the deck structure.

[Bill Baskerville]

That is really going well, and rapidly.  The home team is at it again in full force.

[Jason M Lamontagne]

Thank you guys but for the kind words regarding the application.  I have tried to give it my full attention. 

Mike, Dave and Ed have both been a huge part of it.  Ed has produced several very professional maps for us, while I bounce nearly every reference I want to use off of Mike and Dave. 

Some of our regular crew has been actively involved in helping survey and perform other tasks, including Steve L, Randy, Phil G, Mark, and others.

See ya
Jason

[Jason M Lamontagne]

The bridge assembly contractor, Tim Andrews, put in three days this week, assisted by several of our crew:  Fred Morse, Steve Zuppa, Phil Goodwin, Steve Lennox, Mark Cheetham, Eric Schade, Leon Weeks, Phil Blauvelt, Randy Beach, Zack Wyllie, Dwight Winkley, Dick Forest, Brendan Barry, and anyone else who I forgot to add...

The trusses are impressive...  Brendan has promised pictures today.

See ya
Jason

[Jeff Schumaker]

Sounds like things are moving along smoothly.

Jeff S.

[Brendan Barry]

Both trusses complete in the parking lot.

[Bob Holmes]

Monstrously big nuts!

[Jeff Schumaker]

Any problems encountered in assembling the trusses?

Jeff S.

[Steve Smith]

Brendan, that's a GREAT shot with the Moxie can. I'll bet it took a lot of same to tighten those big nuts.

[James Patten]

One pair of long timbers had a twist to them.  It must have been challenging to get that twist out.  Might have been some shouting too (twist and shout).

[Dave Buczkowski]

Interestingly, the nuts came in a big plastic bag with their own wrench... like IKEA furniture.

[Jeff Schumaker]

I read somewhere that Case Western Reserve had to have a special wrench made to fit the nuts.

Jeff S.

[Bill Baskerville]

Jeff,

There are pictures of the wrench on the Case Western Reserve Article on the Trout Brook Bridge.

http://www.woodcenter.org/docs/dayton-conference/MarstonAndrewsMesler_MooseBrook.pdf 
 
Slides 42 and 65.

[Steve Smith]

On my computer I don't see the pictures identified by number, but the grimaces on the faces of the two guys on the wrench in "Tightening bolts on second truss Mar 19, 2012" tell it all about the Moxie required. 

[Bob Holmes]

FYI, there were two extension bars added to the wrenches totaling about 8 feet long.  It took two guys a lot of effort to make the final push to tighten (Jason was one of them!).

It's my understanding that there's a final process to heat the tension bars in the middle to about 150 degrees (which will expand them outward) and then do the final tightening with the wrenches/extension bars so that when they cool down (contract), the tension will be even tighter.