New Bridge Project

[TPnTX]

I've built several of these before. I thought I'd share some pics of the process just in case you ever need a bridge.
Here is what we're after.

[TPnTX]

Okay so the 1st thing to do is to bend the rails.
I need a 127" radius using 1" 16 gauge square tube. So I make a jig at 70" radius.
When you bend the 1" it springs back to about 127" radius

[TPnTX]

heres another shot

[TPnTX]

what I end up with is 5 almost identicle bends. One of those is twisted you have to be careful. I'll use it for sub rail.

[TPnTX]

I've got a collection of different jigs

[TPnTX]

after cutting the radius 1" pieces to 9' span, I weld on the legs using 1 1/2 square tube.

[TPnTX]

And then you join the with a 1 1/2 brace.

[TPnTX]

tomorrow I'll weld on the pickets, the sub floor piece and take it to the powdercoat place. All thats left then is to cut the board and attach them. Oh and collect some cold hard cash.

[TEK]

Cool! Where does the sub floor pce go? Centerline? How do you connect the wood? Tabs? To the sub pc? Close up pics please!! Details, always the details. Nice ideas.

[TPnTX]

I'll weld a 1" strip to each bottom rail on the inside flush with the bottom. Then bolt each board using a 1/4x 1 1/2 carrage bolt. I have to drill each hole in the strip. I could get the stip punched but I like drill the hole precisely where I want them.

The sub rail will run center of the braces and I'll bolt each board to it using a 2" carrage bolt.

[Sandy]

Pretty nice and simple too. Just enough difficulty factor with the arched pieces to keep the average weekend gardner from doing his own. Repeatable if a guy saves the jigs like you did. I see you leave a small leg, maybe 8 inches or so on the bottom??

[TPnTX]

Yep. You build one of these and you're an artist. You build a fence and be off by 1/2 inch and you're a smuck.


The leg helps a lot. You just dig a small hole and little concrete and it ain't going no where.

Here is the first one I ever did. I'd been welding for a while using my stick. A friend loaned me his MIG and I made the bridge. By the time I drove to Shreveport from Dallas is was falling a part. I basically caulked it together. So I limped home and welded the **** out of it.

I'm much better now

[Ries]

I built myself a little bridge a while back. Of course it was a "wee bit" bigger than yours, but I cheated and used power rolls.
The main bridge structure is Aluminum- 2x2x1/4" square tubing, with 1 1/2" pipe for the rails.
The fish is 3/8" stainless.
Its 40 feet long, 4 foot wide planks of full 2" doug fir, bolted down with 1/2" carriage bolts, and about 12 feet tall.

[Ries]

Here it is in the shop- it kinda filled up the whole shop.

[pulser]

TPnTX,
thanks for sharing the bridge building method, very nice!

[Joker11]

There will always be someone to "ONE-UP" ya! And I like it when they do. Not to be a jerk...but just to get the chance to see some of the really cool things that this forum brings together.
Oh, and I WAS going to say that there was something FISHY about that bridge.....

[TPnTX]

No one "one upped" me. I bought all materials for this bridge from King Metals and fabricated it using an HF 120v wire welder. I think it still there connecting the US to Hawiaii.

[TPnTX]

Not really...Here's the finished bridge.

[TPnTX]

[TPnTX]

[TPnTX]

[Ries]

I just didnt have a big enough trailer for my bridge- so we had to kinda fake it. If you take the corner too fast, you end up with a nissan pickup with a bed that is wider at the back than at the front- dont ask me how I know this.

[UP BRETT]

Here one that I built for a friend so he could run a Skidsteer with a full bucket of sand, to put in a putting green and sandtrap. Then use his golf cart to get to the green side. He had me put a T-Post in the middle of the bridge because he wanted to be safe and not have the bridge cave-in, I told him he didn't need it, but the customer is always right, beside he was paying by the hr. He poured a concrete pad under it to be safe. After the concrete settled and sank about 2", the T-post never touched the pad, even with a fully loaded Skidsteer. I told him he wouldn't need it.LOL

[TPnTX]

This Bridge was installed at a home located on Lake Lewisville(aka Lake Dallas) This is arguably the nicest lake front property in DFW known as Lake Highlands. Only in the last 10 years or so have you been able to build a home on the shores of Lake Lewisville. This particular location is THE finest cove on the lake and homes built on the cliffs are magnificent. I'm sure with a staggering price tag.

The are five giant houses that overlook a small park area at the bottom of the cliffs. My friend Steve Bowen landscaped this area which included a bridge.

This is about an hour away for me and I finally got a chance yesterday to drive out to shoot some pictures. It's so beautiful. I took probably 20 shots from every angle. When I got home I pluged in the camera to my wifes PC where she was working so she could see the images. She accidently deleted all but one image off the camera and they don't go to the trash can. You delete them and they are gone. So here is the one image that I have. It doesn't do justice to the setting and the bridge is the focal point of the entire scene.

[wroughtn_harv]

Originally Posted by TPnTX

This Bridge was installed at a home located on Lake Lewisville(aka Lake Dallas) This is arguably the nicest lake front property in DFW known as Lake Highlands. Only in the last 10 years or so have you been able to build a home on the shores of Lake Lewisville. This particular location is THE finest cove on the lake and homes built on the cliffs are magnificent. I'm sure with a staggering price tag.

The are five giant houses that overlook a small park area at the bottom of the cliffs. My friend Steve Bowen landscaped this area which included a bridge.

This is about an hour away for me and I finally got a chance yesterday to drive out to shoot some pictures. It's so beautiful. I took probably 20 shots from every angle. When I got home I pluged in the camera to my wifes PC where she was working so she could see the images. She accidently deleted all but one image off the camera and they don't go to the trash can. You delete them and they are gone. So here is the one image that I have. It doesn't do justice to the setting and the bridge is the focal point of the entire scene.

That's a bridge I crossed without burning behind me.

Last week I was contacted by a company wanting me to help them come up with a design for a walkway down from the pool to the park setting that has Tom's gate. This morning we walked out the job.

When I saw Tom's bridge I remembered being a kid in Disneyland. "It's a small world after all".

I'm sure I'm competing against Tom's bud for the job and nothing personal, I'd like to get it.