Author Topic: Toothpick Bridge (Read 14442 times)

nightryder · « **Reply #20 on:** May 28, 2008, 07:36:46 PM »

Quote from: Garrett on May 22, 2008, 04:27:55 PM

I made a 5 story pop. stick house and set it on fiRE. Between the gasoline and the glue, the bonfire was sweet. Took me 4 years to build and over 5000 sticks.

to clarify, how big is 1 story. You say 5 storys and im thinking over 50 feet tall

Garrett · « **Reply #21 on:** May 28, 2008, 07:44:59 PM »

Haha, my bad. One popstick high was a story. It was a good 3.5 foot tall and with a little gasoline, a 30 foot tall flame.

I look forward to the pictures of your bridge. I made a arc bridge in my Engineering design class and my bridge held the second most amount of weight.

wafflez205 · « **Reply #22 on:** May 30, 2008, 01:53:11 PM »

did you take a video of the bonfire?

(^_^)

Fullmetal_Steeb · « **Reply #23 on:** May 30, 2008, 02:01:12 PM »

Of course not, that would mean it had to happen.

wafflez205 · « **Reply #24 on:** May 30, 2008, 02:05:41 PM »

i would have stuck firecrackers or something exsplosive to the tower.

Fullmetal_Steeb · « **Reply #25 on:** May 30, 2008, 02:28:43 PM »

Right.

wafflez205 · « **Reply #26 on:** May 30, 2008, 02:34:03 PM »

what's wrong with a "little" explosives? more boom more fun!

Fullmetal_Steeb · « **Reply #27 on:** May 30, 2008, 05:07:22 PM »

Oh just that it seems the same people are always the ones who are like "I'd do this, and this and add a little TNT, and..." to try and act hardcore.

KnacK · « **Reply #28 on:** May 30, 2008, 09:55:40 PM »

You need to post pics as you build your bridge.

I for one would like to see it.

Garrett · « **Reply #29 on:** May 31, 2008, 06:37:33 AM »

Quote from: KnacK on May 30, 2008, 09:55:40 PM

You need to post pics as you build your bridge.

I for one would like to see it.

+1

Fullmetal_Steeb · « **Reply #30 on:** May 31, 2008, 09:55:52 AM »

I'm attempting to get some on here... Can't find the camera.

Edit: Got it. Pic one is one of the sides of it, with the trusses. Picture two is one of the arches I'm going to put under the road to distribute the force to the outside corners, and picture three is the roadway itself. It had to be at least three inches wide, and since the toothpicks were only a little over 2 inches, i had to put one toothpick, then another a little bit up the first one, then another back to where the first was... etc. You can see what I'm talking about probably.

KnacK · « **Reply #31 on:** May 31, 2008, 10:24:14 AM »

I only see one mistake, and it could be a biggie.

Where you have the ends of your struts ( lack of a better term) glued, they should not be overlapping, but should be cut with an exacto knife/razor blade so that they are all on the same plane. As you have it right now, the glue is the only thing supporting the structure and the glue might fail due to the sheering forces applied.
If you don't understand what I mean, I'll try ti get a few pics up.

Fullmetal_Steeb · « **Reply #32 on:** May 31, 2008, 10:42:00 AM »

I get what you mean, and I was planning on doing it today. Thanks for reminding me, though. I didn't actually glue anything yet, other than the road part.

KnacK · « **Reply #33 on:** May 31, 2008, 10:46:07 AM »

Ahhhh good deal, then nothing wasted.

Keep us posted.

Fullmetal_Steeb · « **Reply #34 on:** May 31, 2008, 01:16:01 PM »

Progress has been very slow. I had to go do some stuff like go to the store earlier, and I haven't had much time to work on it since this morning, but I have the bottom row of triangles on each side done. That's about it for news...

nopyo · « **Reply #35 on:** May 31, 2008, 03:32:47 PM »

Try to build the type of arch bridge that doesn't require adhesives to hold itself together.

*searching for pic*

Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Fullmetal_Steeb · « **Reply #36 on:** May 31, 2008, 03:44:27 PM »

Uh... I've already started on this and turned in my blue print for it. It's a little late to offer ideas now. Thnx. XD

Fullmetal_Steeb · « **Reply #37 on:** June 01, 2008, 11:30:02 AM »

Update: I AM AN IDIOT. After I finished the bottom rows yesterday, I dropped one of the sides and stepped on it.

Here are some pics. I did about 20 minutes of work so far today.

wafflez205 · « **Reply #38 on:** June 02, 2008, 09:52:39 AM »

starting to look good. keep going

Fullmetal_Steeb · « **Reply #39 on:** June 03, 2008, 01:57:02 PM »

I finished it on Sunday night, and of course the batteries in my camera were dead, and I had no time to charge them. I had to turn it in on Monday, and when tested it held 45 pounds of weights, plus the bar across the bridge and the bucket the weights were in, which is much better than I'd expected it to do, since the glue hadn't really set at the time. It did fail though, on the right side, through the middle of the horizontal supports. Apparently the glue REALLY wasn't ready in those parts. Anything else you would like to know?