WEDNESDAY APRIL 26TH WE GIVE THE INTERVIEW IN THE 1203 LAB. The local Davis newspaper, the Davis Enterprise, has come out of the blue and are requesting interviews, pictures etc. for an upcoming feature article next Monday. Jessica and Chris will be around come Wednesday, but perhaps any Team members enjoying their time off too much could coordinate with Delicious to get in on the deal...
Steel Bridge assembly will be held in the lower level of the Mondavi Center Parking Structure (ie no "damn thermal expansion!"). It's a pretty long structure, there's some natural light that will peak through, but in the event of cloudy weather we're prepared to bring in external lights and shine the ceiling so everybody can see just fine. There's a slight grade to the structure, and the floor is a kind of lightly textured concrete...IT ISN'T POLISHED, so don't worry about piers slipping all over the place like they did at Salt Lake City 2 years ago. We'll have 2 loading stations with your basic dial gauges doing the measuring. As far as we know 2 weight sets will be there as well, one from Santa Clara, one from Chico...is this correct? Isn't there one from Big Sac as well? Oh well, There Will Be Libres. Our shop will be open the night before the meeting and before the competition to make as many repairs or last minute MIG or TIG welds as is necessary. We've also got grinders, chisels, a shitty drill press and various fab tools to help you get everything ready. Feel free, if you're running a little behind, to come out and make it on time and use the shop if you need last minute things done before aesthetics judging. From sources at UCD ASCE, the judging panel may be a little light, but the head judge knows her stuff, so there shouldn't be any major foul ups...so long as we...uh...triple check the scoring eh? Hope all you in NorCal and Reno can make it, we're looking forward to having everybody on campus for a fun time win or lose! Word of the warning...Davis cops are a bit stalkish at times, take it easy on the hooch in the Nalgene bottle...or at least, be VERY downlowsy about it. Hoping the builds are coming to a close very soon!!! Let's all get stoked in Davis!!!
(anybody who knows Éirinn, knows it's all about dancing leprechauns and pots of gold...that's why so many emigrated to Americay...hahaha...all fun just the same, DRINK UP!)
Double check yourself out there...with a top of deck height set around 2.5' you've got a lot of load relatively far off the ground. Check your bracing...it's not just about passing the lateral test...it's about surviving those 5,2 and 6,1 scenarios.
We've commenced the welding of the pins!!! They're shiteloads easier now that we've got a sweet aluminum jig made by the one and only Señorita Deliciosa. Cormac will burn the rest of those in today, and hopefully we'll finish up tigging the OT A.G.S. doves this afternoon as well. Direction is starting to come into play now, so let's make sure we remember that things are symmetrical with some pieces. Be careful, and do it right the first time laddie!
No meeting this weekend. Study hard for finals...it's like Warp Speed here at UC Davis...gogogo!
This has nothing to do with Steel Bridge, but L'École de Technologie Supérieure, on top of having quite the intricately fabricated Steel Bridge, also has, or has had, one of the most kick ass Mini-Baja crews in the land.
Since we are "Semi-Pro" fabricators we're always correcting the mini-mistakes as we go, but this time, things are going pretty damn well. The A.G.S. doves have broken ground, and all that's needed is a bit of an arc on the straight males. A new sort of double chucked pipe fuser in the Ag Shop is supposed to cut our TIG welding time by 500%...uh, so, HELL YES we're gonna give it a go so long as Tom Bell has got a few minutes.
OT welding is pretty much done...though we've got to weld on the bones and the A.G.S. doves into place when they're done, but the ties are all in, and we're seeing what the frame looks like up above. It looks hot, not like that crappy Paris Hilton hot, I mean like NASA re-entry hot, we're talking fireballs people. Jeff continues to push himself and the assemblies are flying together everyday, cutting precious seconds with each batch of runs. It is encouraged to all potential Assembly Team members to come in, if only for 30 minutes, get some assemblies and practice. It's a great stress reliever, and it will help you retain skills better rather than coming out only on Saturday for 3 hours. Good luck with the upcoming finals week, hopefully we'll be nearing completion on the tail-end of it. Get ready to rumble!
Great job everybody on Saturday...practice only makes you faster, and it's showing. High five to Jeff for coming in on Sunday to get some extra assembly work in, he's already cut his yard time by roughly 150%. Well done! Alright Chrolympians...it's another week of Tiggin' and Millin'. Let's get it done.
We've got our first working slip fit OT connection. We'll have to see how we bolt it to alleviate the 1/32" hinging on the one side, but 75% of them are Rock Solid...not stealing your ole' thunder UW boat crew.
While tomorrow's shop and practice runs should seal up another great week...we had a great workweek as well. Cormac was fusing like gangbusters all week, and with a little help from Daret this morning, the OT and it's special sections are completely TIGged. The Bridge is starting to look like NASA's own, Gene Krantz would be so proud.
We're running out of things to precision mill, which usually only means one thing: We need to finish all the hard precision milling on the fancy connections. This Bridge is ack-basswards compared to what we've done before, so it's like working in reverse of the reverse. The hardest connections...aka the A.G.S. dovey dove doves are going last, but it's all good. Now that we're practiced up in the Student Shop, the hardest stuff is coming at the right time.
This next week, we'll make sure that everything is in order for the DK Tigging...the welds are small, but the alignment needs to be money or will be leaning like a cholo. Hopefully Cormac nurses his sore throat for next week, because we've also got a fixa' dealie bobber to do on the center 4 CD's...Designer Estupido!!!
No worries. Keep on hoppin' mates, and don't let any bringer downers deter you from the task at hand!
Wisconsin is off and running!!! If they're even half as good on the assembly site as they were last year, we'll all be on the chase. Nice job Bucky! http://www.engr.wisc.edu/studentorgs/bridge/
With our new found pot of gold, a.k.a. Cormac McHugh, doing some TIG welding now while Daret nurses his sore-arse back, we're about 60% done with the fine tuned welding on the OT.
...
Construction practice has officially commenced, and with the results from the Midwest sizzling in our noggins, it's only fuel for the fire ahead. We'll continue to finish up cnxn projects this week, and shoot to finish all OT welding by Saturday night...along with perhaps...all DK cnxn welding.
...
Tonight we're having a film day...mainly watching NDSU, Iowa State, Minnesota and SDSU from the Midwest Regional, but also some film from 2007. Looks like we're on track for the finish date of Jolly St. Patrick, but one extra week won't kill us to get it all right...if only winter finals weren't scheduled on that extra week, dammit!!!
It looks like The Southeast Conference, which is huge, will have the Steel Bridge World all to themselves for one weekend at the end of March. Details here on the UCF/Florida Tech joint hosting of the Southeast ASCE Regional Conference: http://www.2008sesc.com/
From this conference, 2008 NSSBC Host the Florida Gators will look to improve on their 12th Place finish at Northridge. Inventive, aggressive, and always quick on the assembly, Southern Poly will also look to knock off the Gators in Orlando. North Florida, Tennessee and Tennessee Tech will also be in the mix. Other schools who may turn some heads include South Florida, Florida Tech, UCF, all the Alabama schools, Auburn, Vandy, FIU, and Southern University. Should be a great event to watch. Don't think Matt will make this one, though tix to Orlando are cheaper than Cedar Rapids, IA....of which, the flights got cancelled anyway. Dude, not much driving either...well, we'll see. Be on the look for the Chrome Ollie hat in O'do.
From the "Cookie Monster"...(wtf am I called around the lab now Jess?)
"What's up y'all. Okay, so the Midwest was le intersting. A lot of great bridges, but man, did we see some pain and agony as well. What was it, like 4 or 5 bridges couldn't stand the load? 2 collapsed: South Dakota State, and Lakehead, yes, the Thunderwolves will not be in the NSSBC for the first time in 10 years. Watch that friggin' torsion people, and truss buckling...it's shredding all non-hackers who don't pack the analytical gear to serve at the 2008NSSBC...don't get too skimpy laterally!!! However, don't go overboard either unless you're playing the lightness card (Longhorns this could mean you - Hook 'em up at Gainesville). I reckon the Rules committee had this in mind after seeing last year's, uh, questionable lateral bracing scenarios, same, somewhat in 2006 and 2005...though loadings change.
Top 3 were as follows:
1. North Dakota State -- getting old guys, Fahrvegnügen, just be normal for a change and slack off like the rest of us engineering students who are too good at math, and too shitty at writing to warrant any other kind of degree...C's make degrees fellas...but in all seriousness, the Bison are young, and they showed enormous nerve and resolve having to follow the impressive run by the Cyclones. Great job guys (and gal?). Don't make me whip out the Sausage Factory award for you dudes in Gainesville! The two weeks of practice time really showed, great job working the assemblies. ;-)
2. Iowa State -- had a great time, no idea on the structual numbers, but they did incorporate a lot of doves in the Bridge (pleeeease credit Penn State todos, we stole it from them way back when) and the practice and preparation showed as they drew first blood on the Assembly Site. Very good showing following a pretty imprecise regional Purete de Acero in 2007. But...why paint it dark green flake? is it a Christmas thang?
3. University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (no penalty for bad name woo hoo!) -- first in stiffness, but took a little bit too long on the assembly, but kudos for the huevos to not put any builders on the long side...YES, it is possible to assembly with 4 builders, but put some wingspans at barge, and detail your pier to truss/beam/pier-lat cnxns properly, if you want to see if it works...I'd suggest the ex-basketball playing Civils (or MechE's, don't be closed minded, it has always worked like Expelliarmus for us) in the program, or any freaks of nature (a.k.a. pain loving goths) who've survived the Braveheart rack.
No word on the rest of the finishings exactly, but UW-Platteville (still sporting the Wisconsin State Pen jumpsuits), SDSU, Lakehead, Minnesota State-Mankato and the host University of Iowa all failed load tests, either laterally or vertically...duh. The Fighting Sioux of The University of North Dakota did not fail, however, as they were quietly dubbed "El Puente Pequeño que Puede". UND had a very simple bridge, straight out of a statics text book, but the sucker held just fine, so good job there...unfortunately when you come to Davis to play us next fall on the gridiron, you well get your asses handed to you in all the ways that aren't pleasant. 14-2 in 2001 is still sticking in our craw, die Sioux die, just the white people, not the Native Americans, they're all cool with us. Good job though UND, it wasn't an easy load scenario.
Exact numbers won't be detailedd here, mainly, 'cause I quite frankly don't know them exactly, but NDSU and Iowa State put up good times, they'll be pretty fast come Nationals, but, thinking about it, with 2 barges in the mix, everybody with enough preparation and creativity will be able to get a good time -- maybe faster than you thought possible, so get crazy with the Cheez Whiz and get on that shizzle.
Top 10 Random thoughts on the trip to Iowa City:
1. Tighten that bolt NDSU...that's the stiffness problemo right there! Wtf "Professor"?
2. There's a prototypical Iowa Highway Patrolmen just outside of Iowa City waiting for a lifetime Hollywood gig as the essential crewcut, clearheaded IHP cop...74 in a 70? Dude, seriously...the warning wasn't worth yo time, especially with no visable ice on the road for 230 miles. Beeyatch! But seriously,...fark off and be glad I wasn't doing the typical 85 I'd do in Cali.
3. The California Aggies should've yelled Byaaaaaaaah! following their 2007 run.
4. Uhhhhh...it may be cheap to sleep in the rental car from midnight to 6 am in Iowa City...but not recommended, as my huevos are still recovering from frost bite, and not the kind from a cold hearted woman.
5. It's okay to talk to Californians, even if our society is a little bit completely upside down from the Midwest. We're just crazy on the outside...and don't mean no harm, 'cause we're country boys and girls at heart gettin' down on the Farm!!!
6. Iowa City has less cows and way more steakhouses than Davis...friggin' hippies!
7. Don't find yourself on a semi-broke streak and travel halfway across the country...only to find your flight to Cedar Rapids cancelled because of this thing called weather...
8. In the land of cute Asian, Polynesian, and Indian chicas here in Davis, it's refreshing to know that cute white chicks (non-psychos) are still in the mix...at least somewhere.
9. It's just a stupid Steel Bridge, don't be nervous, but please, prepare yourselves.
10. When in Iowa, stop by the Kum and Go. Chatsworth would be so proud!
(this list and blog entry was written under the power of Icehouse/King Cobra ---please pardon the Bush-Speak)."
"Well, I'm off to Iowa to get a look at what has been the nation's best Steel Bridge Conference in recent years. I've a feeling Lakehead and NDSU will be neck and neck, but maybe Minnesota and Iowa State will get in the mix. Adios California, hello frozen yellow vegetables...and frozen huevos." -Matt
Daret has been getting some timely welds in during the week. We're getting close to the point where we can set up the horizontal system assembly. Still a lot of detail and welding to take care of, but we can do it! This Saturday we'll use the shop hours for CNXN work and we'll run more construction practice with the old bridge.
Another Good Saturday, finishing assignment after assignment thanks to the 6 hours we get now on Saturdays. We welded up some doves to the CD's, about 8 down, and 16 to go, but it's a good chunk. Also, made a nice little find in the boneyard as we're currently using a very solid piece of old rusty girder as a flat surface. While the Tinius is being used to teach the minds of 104L, we got ole' rusty! Also got some preliminary construction practice in, hopefully all those prospective builders know how much time and effort it's gonna take to tinker the sequence down to sub-4 minutes. Jessica and Matt will try to jig up the outer OT' s on Sunday and get some tacs on 'em. We're shooting for a 3/17 finish, so we'll have to stay focused. Daret permitting during the week, we should be on time we really stick to it. Let the creativity flow people -- legends are made not born.
E-Week, while rainy, was still a lot of fun. Big groups of young kids and a few engineering students had some questions for us. At least the incredible paint job for the 2K7 Bridge was on display. Big congrats to that paint job go to Rishi, CQ, Jeff and Jadams. Also thanks to those who made their appearences for the E-Week displays...Mar, CQ, Jeff, Delicious, Alex, Jadams and Leticia, who we want to see a lot more of, managed to come out on her 21st birthday and support the Team.
Woo-hoo! Now back to business. With the advent of Saturday Shop Hours, will be getting so much done today and tomorrow. Still plenty of holes here and there to mill out, as well as various precision mill jobs that need to be taken out. We'll weld some CD doves on Saturday as well, no Tinius beam, but the Maroney Aluminum should do the trick for those members. Hopefully Joe and Faiyaz can make so we can get some straight MIG's on 'em (no offense Delicious, ha ha ha).
Construction walk-throughs will commence on Saturday as well, anybody not in the shop who shows up will work with the 2005 Bridge with the 2008 construction site and go through the motions without any bolts. A basic procedure is needed before we start breaking ice on the Venus.
The University of California, Irvine (the sweet paint job from the 2007 NSSBC) appears to have a blog up. Don't know why it took so long to notice this. Irvine, Irrrrrvine, welcome to Irvine...huh huh huh...
It looks like mama nature won't give us our time on the Quad today, but we've still got a good three morning hours to show off in front of Bainer tomorrow. Hopefully, we can recruit some new blood and spark some new interest in our project for '09. AND, since the captains don't seem to want to step up to the plate one more time in '08, we could get some new folks in as possible assembly team members...which would be perfect timing since we're planning our first construction walk-throughs this Saturday. From the fabrication shop, we continue to pound out connection pieces, and precision milled lengths. There's always something and unless we get the Tinius beam back for this Saturday, we'll be without welding jobs for the next two weeks. No big worries, just a shift in focus. We also managed to find a 48" clamp at the Home Depot for the lengthwise DK Female jig on the long pieces. Yay yay, crisis averted. Quick reminder to all on what we're shooting for:
We've got a test section rigged for tensile ripping. It's for peace of mind really, but we all need a lot more of that eh?
Also, new pics of the progress to come on the UC Davis ASCE website. Hopefully a few candid shots have made the cut, but it doesn't really matter 'cause we're all sexy bitches!!!
Unbelievable weekend everybody. Special thanks to Alex, Chris 1, Chris 2, Jessica 1, Jessica 2, Jeff, King Rishi and Joe for coming on Saturday and Sunday. We've got the DK's in 3D mode finally and now it's just fine tuning all our connections and hopefully start TIG welding next Saturday Bill and Daret willing. Filthy Phil also made an appearance and although we weren't quite ready for all the TIG work, he gave us another mechanical's insight on the road ahead. We'll try to get him back in next weekend.
We also put a pimpin' paint job on the 2007 bridge. It's really poppin' Chrome and Blue like never before (well silver and blue really). Ready for E-Week recruitment baby, bring on the freshies and sophies.
Still to do in the shop...
Female DK Connection fix (thanks Joe)
DK Male Seats
Precision Mill Outer OT'
Precision Mill Pier C's
Make sure we have enough cross braces for OT Frames. (4.5")
CD doves, ~1/32 to 1/16 underengagement preferred
A.G.S. doves on OT (3/4" tall ones alligned in jig)
Star shims for DK females, about three ought to do it.
Begin Cutting Lateral Pieces
Cut/Custom Fit Outer DK pieces
Pier/dk Cnxn Seats
Lathe project for Outer OT Cnxns
...probably more after that...(geez ya think?)
Immediate welding in the forseeable future...
MIG:
OT Frames
Pier Lats (custom boxes to length)
TIG:
DK Cnxns
Pier C's
Crank to OT Frame
Outer OT's
Keep on keepin' on Chrome-O's. No rest for the weary.
All's business here. Phil's coming in on Saturday to TIG the outer OT's, and possibly the C Piers if there's time (there won't be)
Here's a little TechnoViking for morale...(though I believe he's German, I think Viks would kill their own if they saw one of them doing this Etard dance, he's pretty friggin' yolked though)
Fabrication continues here as we are constantly updating the bridge for faster sequences and eliminating wasted material in certain details. We'll have a first tensile test of our new DK connection style by next week, and we'll weld DK frames this Saturday. CD's have been welded. Faiyaz and Joe are very handy with the MIG, the welds are near flawless considering the material they're working with. All good signs here. Preliminary practices out in front of Bainer will start in mid to late February if we're focused.
Impressive 2007 NSSBC finisher, Lafayette College will be hosting the 2008 Mid-Atlantic and it looks like they're attempting to revamp their website. Groovy! http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~asce/
Practice helps just as much as getting a perfect fabrication completed. Manage your Steel Bridge Project ahead of schedule and you will compete at a higher level come regionals.
From Austin ASCE Newsletter - Dec. 2007:
"The Steel Bridge team is preparing for the Texas-Mexico regional competition which will be held in Beaumont, Texas January 18-19. After finishing 6th place at Nationals last year in Los Angeles, CA out of nearly 200 universities, top 10 in every category, and with a near full team returning, the team is prepared to perform at the same caliber this year. For the first time ever, the team will be finishing fabrication before Christmas."
Push the pace and get it done at least 2 weeks early, that should give you enough time to load test, fix any structural problems/issues thereafter, and practice for at least 5 days before regionals. It truly helps! Get 'em done on time!
2008 Tex Mex Regional SBC Homepage It seems the Longhorns are primed to prove 2007 was not a fluke as they've appeared to have stomped out the TexMex competition quite comfortably at Lamar University yesterday. The Texas A & M Aggies came in second and will make yet another run into the heart of NSSBC country in Gainesville. Word from those present is that The University of Texas will be in the Top 5...with all this time to practice they could very well be the 2008 NSSBC Champ.
Two of the 12 possible teams in Beaumont had load failures prior to competition so only 2 have qualified. Keep those puentes sturdy out there people. The loading has only gotten worse since Northridge.
Other notes (updated 1/25/08):UT San Antonio finished 3rd. 4th was the University of Houston. 5th went to Universidad La Salle Cuernavaca. Two other teams (beams apparently) had load failures. Two other teams on top of that were not given permission to proceed to final loading status because of excessive sway. TAMUK had a load failure prior to competition. UTEP seemed missing in action from competition with no real explanation.
Well, we're off and running, and the Longhorns have set the pace. Can you keep up? Round 1 of Hook 'em is in the books!
With the Tex-Mex Conference set to kick off the 2008 Steel Bridge season this Saturday in Beaumont, TX, the 2007 NSSBC Champ is firing in the shop to prep for the toughest regional SB Conference in the Midwest. No doubt, the Fargo Bison will be bringing it to the table in '08. Ya betcha!
Well it's about 2 months until our desired finish date. Fabrication continues to excel as the new blood are putting in mondo hours in the shop. Our second steel order is going through to Pennsylvania today or tomorrow. The DK material is on backorder from Illinois and should be here by the end of the month hopefully...without kinks and without any other spoils. Mainly we've been doing the connection work which is the most important. Welding will commence on our initial DK section when we've got some connection pieces finished up from the shop. Matt is contemplating attending the Tex-Mex Conference this weekend. Hopefully ex-Chico SBT designer Chin will be able to accomodate the transportation to Beaumont. Chin's now working on his M.S. at Texas A & M.
We've received word that the TexMex Conference is set to go the weekend of January 18, 19 & 20th, not the week after like on the ASCE site. Thanks for the heads up Texas Aggies! Newslink about Lamar University hosting 2008 TxMxSBT Conference: http://www.lamar.edu/newsevents/news/207_5998.htm
The New Year is upon us, and true to form we're working hard to hit the ground running this week and on into our annual fabrication quarter...our finish date is set for St. Patrick's Day 2K8. We'll celebrate with a little Guinness and of course, those lovely finals. It's always hard to remember that we came to Davis to do some fancy book learnin' on top of making cool shit.
We've got loads to accomplish and lots of practice to break into so let's get on it people and ram it home!
Looks like ASCE has finally updated their student section on their site.
Possible trips for us: Iowa City, IA -- Orlando, FL -- Beaumont, TX -- Easton, PA -- Baton Rouge, LA...any advanced offering for lodging or knowledge exchange would be appreciated!!! All who wish to venture to Davis, CA can sleep at Matt's house, no worries about a hotel or a rental car within the city, all taken care of if you get in touch with Chrome Ollie. Oh, Oh wait, dude check this out! Lamar University is hosting the Tex-Mex and it has been pushed all the way back to January 26th!!! That's like one more week of preparation than usual. Woohoo! Awesome! Do we really need to say we'll be rooting for down there?
Okay, so half of our DK stock is pinch bent near the ends in a pretty shitty way. We'll have to send some of this back and get some straighter stuff asap. Good news is Chris and Jessica are downright annihilating the connection blanks. We've also found a way to cut about 20% of the DK connection weight without sacrificing integrity...AND we may get to use the EDM machine for possible dovetail scenarios (if crash program is needed). Score one for the rounded doves (if we need them).
(if we need them)....
(if we need them).... (please dear God no! we won't need them it's okay, this will work, this will work...)
Big thanks to the lads and lassies in Highland. They got us our big steel order about 20 days faster than we thought it would take. Good call Delicious!
CO alum (2003-2005) Liz Rider has now attained the position of Newsletter Editor for the Sacramento Section Younger Member Forum. Way to go Liz! ...
Seen below at YMF's Holiday Party with Philthy Phil who's now at Kiewit (and trying to look interested about civil engineers talking "shop"...Ha!).
...
To any younguns out there in the Sac Valley who're outta school - go to these events, and mix it up with your own kind!!! YMF Sac Section Link(sacymf.org)
80% of our steel order has gone through and we look to begin the bulk of our cutting and precision milling come January 2nd, 2008! In the meantime Jessica, Joe and whoever else is about, will continue to push on what dovetail work we have, original estimates forgot that things get doubled when you're working in pairs...so plenty more blanks to get ready...as well as a bunch of groovie aluminum jigs to help us keep things super precisio! Good luck with Finals all, they suck, yes, but you don't get paid without the degree...unless you work the street, and that sucks more so deal with it.
Until hell week freezes over...geez it's kinda cold, maybe it'll freeze over before we think it will.
