# New truss bridge



## Chrisp (Jan 3, 2008)

I just finished a new Howe truss bridge for my line today. Here is the link:

http://sites.google.com/site/chilidog95065/Home/Sullivan Bridge.jpg?attredirects=0http://sites.google.com/site/chilidog95065/_/rsrc/1227934012987/Home/Sullivan%20Bridge.jpghttp://sites.google.com/site/chilidog95065/Home/Sullivan Bridge.jpg?attredirects=0

I ripped the wood from two 1/2 inch thick redwood boards and used bicycles spokes for the vertical tension rods. It's named the Sullivan Bridge, after my uncle who gave me the table saw I used to help build it. It was a lot of fun to build - I hope you enjoy looking at it.


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## pete (Jan 2, 2008)

*Great looking bridge how long did it take to finish*


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## peter bunce (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi, 

Thats is a good piece of work - congratulations! 

Are you going to add some NBW'S to the joins of the diagonals, it weill look even better then: you can make you own with some bits of plastic card, and that will allow you to make the nuts square, which I think (depends on your time period) is more prototypical. Get some of the Evergreen black plastic (styrene) card, for the washers; the nuts can be white (thicker than the washers) and because they are on top of the washers they can be painted easily. 

Don't forget to oil it (teak oil or such) for preservation purposes: thanks for the photo.


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

WOW the really turned out great.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

That worked great!


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## Richard Smith (Jan 2, 2008)

Very nice Chris. Makes me wish I had room for another bridge on the POC.


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## Richard Weatherby (Jan 3, 2008)

Gorgeous redwood. Gorgeous bridge. You lucky California people.


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Nice one Chris, go'geous wood!


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## Chrisp (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks for the comments. It took around 10-12 hours to cut the all wood and assemble. I was considering real nuts, bolts and washers for the beams, but as the bridge is a good 10 feet away from the closest viewing area, I decided to just leave as is.


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## denray (Jan 5, 2008)

Chris 
Great looking bridge, what is the length of the bridge? 
Dennis


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## Biblegrove RR (Jan 4, 2008)

Bicycle spokes eh? It looks like they were possibly from a "straight spoked wheel" without the usual 90 degree bend on the hub end? Did you use the stock threaded ends on the bottom side or nuts of some kind? This is one beautiful bridge! Thanks for sharing


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## leonpete (Jan 4, 2008)

Great looking bridge Chris and great workmanship. Thanks for sharing. 
Leon


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## Chrisp (Jan 3, 2008)

Thanks - the bridge is 5 feet long and about 1 foot high. I used regular "j-hook" bike spokes (straight pull spokes are much more expensive), the bend at the bottom where they cannot be seen, and the threaded end at top, where I used standard threaded spoke nipples, which works as the washer and nut, all in one! Another advantage of bike spokes is that the threads can take a ton of tension without stripping.


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## tbug (Feb 16, 2008)

That's one good looking bridge you have there!!!

tbug


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## daveat22 (Dec 7, 2008)

Chris


Brilliant bridge I can aspire to making something similar. Intrigued by the use of wheel spokes, did the spokes happen to be the right length, as you used the bend at the bottom and the threaded portion at the top? 
I am thinking of something similar across a pond needs to be about six feet long so I might have to splice the top and bottom members? Presumably in actuality these members would have been several lengths of timber with joins? How would the joins have been made?


dave


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## Chrisp (Jan 3, 2008)

Hello Dave,

My bridge was a bit taller than standard bike spoke length, but I used a company called wheelbuilders.com that cut them and threaded them to my custom length (303mm) - it actually cost less than other internet bike suppliers for standard lengths. I chose DT aluminum black annodized spokes and nipples. Wheelbuilders.com were very fast and fair on the shipping - I recommend them.

I spliced both the upper and lower horizontals. I ripped all my timber into two and three foot lengths, so spliced a two and a three to complete each section. Assembled with Titebond III waterproof glue and 5/8" nails from a nail gun, the joint is quite strong.

Before I started, I drew a bunch of pictures and built a small mockup using popcicle sticks to help visualize the order of timber placement - there are five layers in cross section, and the order you place the diagonals is important. The mockup really helped.


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## coolhand (Jan 7, 2008)

Great Job Chris. I,m just trying to finish uo an 48" arch bridge that i stared about three years ago. 
Got derailed by a major house addition. I'll try to figure out how to post when I get it done. 
I have Howe through Truss that a friend gave me. I've shortened it from 4' to three feet. 
He built itseveral years ago from white wood and it has held up under the intense sun and little 
rain we have in S. Utah.


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## Neiler (Feb 17, 2008)

Looks great Chris. Do you feel like sharing your drawings? Just the side frames would be a great start. Or maybe just some dimensions such as interior clear height (10"?), rod spacing ( I counted 9 @ 6"?), width etc.

Neil


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## Engineercub (Oct 18, 2008)

That is a great bridge Chris. When I start my trestle I may be bugging you for info ;-) It seems Redwood and Cedar are both not the easiest lumber to come by in TN. Great job though!
-Will


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