Here you can see Alex multi-tasking. At work setting up the transit with one hand and communicating with the other!
Gotta love today's youth and their ability to cope. Although this is "old school" technology Alex and his friend, Lynnan a student from the neighboring Shullsburg high school, took right to it. Alex had talked to Lynnan about the work he and Bruce were doing on the South Wayne Bridge Project #4 and she wanted to learn more about it.
The best way to "learn" about bridge building is to just "do it" and that is just what Lynnan did this past Sunday. They went to work setting in place and coming up with ways to anchor the false work. This false work is very important. It will form the working surface for building the bridges 32' long lattice trusses.
This false work will consist of two stringers of 4 x 4's that will be 42' in length, spaced 6' apart. They run parallel to each other. The stringers must be level and supported with cribbing. Across the top of the stringers a series of 12 foot long 4 x 6's will be placed 4' on center. This will form a grid that will support the truss chords and be out of the way for the over 200 clamps that will be used during the assembly of the 6 layers that make up each Town Lattice Truss. The 2 outside truss chords, the 2 lattice webs and the 2 inside truss chords. Very confusing to say the least, but more about this in the next post to come.
After they layed out and fastened together the stringers they went to work with the transit to level them up. These guys did some impressive work and kept right at it.
Next, since we did not have the 12' long 4 x 6's yet we had a "brainstorming" session. After the stringers were leveled how would each of us anchor the false work to hold it in place securely so it would not move when jacking against it to put the 4 inches of camber into the bottom and top chords of the truss? Ideas ranged from driving steel fence posts along side of the 4x4 stringers to braces and wooden stakes. We discussed the pros and cons of each and will do some testing when the 4 x 6's arrive. This is all we could do on the false work for now.
They were still interested in working some more so they took on the task of re-assembling the 3/8" = 1" scale model Town Lattice Truss (watch for this in the next post). I have to say it was another great day of "serious fun". From working with Bruce and Alex at South Wayne on Roof Rafter layout to Alex and Lynnan on the false work, these guys are impressive!
Many of the 21st Century Skills :
Critical Thinking
Problem Solving
Collaboration
Written & Oral Communications
Creativity
Self-Direction
Adaptability
Responsibility
Global Awareness
that Technical Education courses in high schools strive to achieve are being experienced by these bridge project participants. As a bonus when it is finished they will have a 32' Town Lattice Truss bridge in South Wayne, WI to show for it!
Puzzler - So how is the transit leveled?
Tech Vocab - Perpendicular - Adjusting Screws - Spirit Level - Tripod - Camber - False Work - Cribbing
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