Subject:
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Re: World Record LEGO Bridge
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.trains, lugnet.build
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Date:
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Wed, 23 Aug 2000 15:01:51 GMT
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Viewed:
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2221 times
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In lugnet.trains, Jeff Elliott writes:
>
>
> Wayne R Hussey wrote:
> >
> > Just to clarify a few details about the World Record LEGO Bridge.
> >
> > It is, as far as I know, a World Record length of bridge span - officially
> > measured (with guidance from a bridge engineer) at 16 feet 10 inches.
>
> <snip>
> >
> > Wayne
>
> Hi Wayne!
>
> Nice bridge... I'd love to see some more detail of how you integrated
> the ZNAP into the spans - I assume you used it for deck stiffening and
> for the towers? How did the flexibility and spinginess of the ZNAP
> imapct the engineering?
>
> I was also wondering about the supports under the bridge deck shown in
> this picture:
>
> http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=11434
>
> It looks like you're holding the deck up with monorail towers. Is this
> a preventative measure in case little kiddies come running through, or
> did you have oscillation problems when running trains over the bridge at
> speed?
>
>
> Thanks,
> Jeff Elliott
Jeff,
First, to alleviate any rumors to the contrary, there is no support anywhere
along the span except the string. It was placed within a couple of inches of
the floor to provide a reduced amount of rail climb. The officiating took into
consideration that the overall sag (over a distance of eight feet) was less
than one inch. There is a plan currently in the works to have it displayed at
the GATS in Puyallup in November. For that display, there will be no changes
to the bridge - there will also be no doubt of its ability to span unaided.
The entire bridge deck and piers are Znap. The grey footing at the base of the
piers was mostly for decoration. Znap pins are sticking downward from the
piers toward the floor, and I wanted that to disappear. When I put the bricks
around the feet of the piers, the addition of one layer of plates gave it a
tiny bit of lift off the pins. The flexibility of the Znap did cause one
problem (somewhat related to the ability of it to support the load). It
allowed a spreading of the triangle beams which are used along the span.
Endwise, the arrangement is triangle - medium beam - triangle ( |/--\| ).
Please forgive the crude attempt at drawing it with keyboard graphics. I
corrected this by providing cross stretchers. This in turn firmed up the
entire deck (without adding very much weight). The choice of Znap was entirely
to reduce weight. If you look through the pictures, you'll see my Bascule
bridge (grey and black). It was my first excursion into Znap. Without the
Znap, the bridge would have been a couple of studs wider (at least) and the
clean lines I obtained with Znap would not have been possible (with Technic
alone). I find Znap very much what LEGO was lacking when compared to K'NEX -
the ability to build larger structures without using a huge amount of pieces.
But please be aware, Znap resembles Construx (see my other post on the Znap
link) - it does NOT work like K'NEX (I have a LOT of K'NEX and can speak from
experience).
Wayne
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: World Record LEGO Bridge
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| (...) <snip> (...) Hi Wayne, I'm sorry if my post sounded like I was challenging the authenticity of your accomplishment - I figured that since your bridge was evaluated for span length, it was able to stand unaided. From my own (shorter-span) (...) (24 years ago, 23-Aug-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.build)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: World Record LEGO Bridge
|
| (...) <snip> (...) Hi Wayne! Nice bridge... I'd love to see some more detail of how you integrated the ZNAP into the spans - I assume you used it for deck stiffening and for the towers? How did the flexibility and spinginess of the ZNAP imapct the (...) (24 years ago, 22-Aug-00, to lugnet.trains, lugnet.build)
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