Cal Poly Steel Bridge

Construction Team Tryouts

Who: All SCE Members

When: Saturday, January 21, 11am

Where: Hanger Machine Shop (Bldg 4), On the hill above parking lot H-12

What: The Steel Bridge Team is looking for competitive and energetic SCE members to join our construction team! Our construction crew will assemble the bridge under timed conditions at both the regional and national competitions. This is a great way to get involved with the team and score a trip to the regional conference, as well as nationals in Clemson, South Carolina! Make sure to wear comfortable shoes and clothes that you can run and move in. Tryouts will consist of building segments of last year’s bridge. Lunch will also be provided for all participants! If you have any questions, please contact Garrett Van Ruiten, gvanruit@calpoly.edu or email steelbridgecalpoly@gmail.com.

Note: You must have a ASCE number to be a part of the team. If you don’t know how to get a number, ask one of the SCE officers.

Hey Team,

Hope you had a great holiday break, now its school time and fun machine shop time, yay! Competition is bearing down on us, only 10 weeks left! This means a quarter of work left to build the bridge and practice construction. Regionals is right around the corner!

TEAM MEETINGS

We won’t be holding a team meeting this week while we are getting everyone’s schedules figured out. But expect to hear about one soon, from now on we will be meeting in the machine shop, that way we can hold a quick meeting while still staying productive.

THIS WEEK

Our first big work day is this Friday from 9am to 6pm in the Mustang 60 shop
This saturday we will also work from 9am to 6pm location to be determined.

If you can make it all day thats fine, you are all welcome to pop in and out at anytime, we can get you up to speed on what has happened in the last few weeks.

Hope to see you all soon!

Hey Team,

Hopefully, finals went well. This week we are working on fabrication for the bridge. Anyone still in town or interested in joining is welcome to stop by and see what we are up to.

NEXT QUARTER

The first half of next quarter will focus on bridge fabrication. Due to the number of team members, the amount of work put into fabrication will play a huge role in who will be able to go to national. So try to keep coming out as much as possible!

Construction tryouts will happen at the beginning of next quarter. We will keep you updated on any important dates

Fabrication Practice

Hey Team,

Hopefully dead week and preparation for finals is going well. This will be the last update of the quarter and will wrap up all we’ve done, what were doing over these last weeks, and the game plan for next quarter.

TEAM MEETING

We will have our last meeting of the quarter this Friday at 3pm in 192-208.

BEFORE BREAK

Over thanksgiving the steel for the bridge was delivered! We’re ready to start fab. If you have time this weekend we will try to work for a few hours Saturday.

Also senior captains will be working hard the week after finals. All assistant captains and helpers are encouraged to join!

NEXT QUARTER

The first half of next quarter will focus on bridge fabrication. We will be busy with jigs, connections, cutting, welding, efc. I’ll keep you guys updated on when we’ll be working. It will be Saturdays as well as more hours during the week. Since we have so many team members, the amount of work put into fabrication will play a huge role in who will be able to go to national. So keep coming out as much as possible!

Construction tryouts will happen at the beginning of next quarter. Methods and strategies will be planned soon after the crew is selected.

REGIONALS!!

This year’s regionals will be held at Cal Poly Pomona during the second half of Spring Break. Please plan accordingly as you want to be there.

Thanks for all the time and hard work put in this quarter!

Weekly Meeting

There is a meeting this Friday in Building 192 Room 208 at 3pm.

Friday Night Shop

Pat will be in the hanger at 7pm on friday to hold a very short workshop on how to use a lathe. He will teach you how to set up the lathe, how to use the electronic readout (if it works), what tools do what, how to turn down a diameter, and how to part a tool. If you have any questions on what that means google it or wait till friday and you will find out. Pat expects to leave by 9pm so we can all take a break before a long day in the shop saturday.

Projects

This weekend we would like to get you all on a project. We need a new sandwich board for steel bridge. The old one and some other examples are out front of building 13 for reference. 

Junior Captains

I want all (non senior captains) to come up with a simple design, hinges, how the two sides attach to each other, etc. We want to be able to keep it locked in both the folded and unfolded position for transportation and display respectively. Be creative! its a simple design but we can make it look really cool if you put some thought into it. You can sketch it, color it, computer draft it, 3d build it, whatever tool you want to use. This is an important exercise on undertanding how to start from scratch and build something, how it comes together, how to properly dimension pieces to fit correctly, then take that design and implement it in the shop. It is the building blocks for steel bridge and your future careers. Bring your designs to the hanger on saturday. We will be there at 9am. Hope to see you all there! 

Fabrication continues to progress as we wait for the steel to be delivered. Thanks to all the hard work to get the cage organized last Saturday!

TEAM MEETING

Because Friday is a school holiday, the team meeting will be cancelled this Friday, November 11th. They will resume as usual next week.

LAST WEEK

While waiting on steel, we got preliminary cuts outlined on the bridge, as well as built a steel rack and additional workspace in the cage. Dan completed a jig to machine connections, which will enable us to start making prototypes.

THIS WEEK

This Saturday we will finish cleaning and organizing the hanger. For design, we will work on bridge laterals, and lateral restraints for competition. Dan will continue will machining connections. This is a great opportunity for all captains to get machine shop hours, and hopefully get yellow tags soon. Next Monday we will be attending the CENG Dean’s Advisory Council Poster Session. All senior captains should be there, and junior captains are welcome to attend. This is a great opportunity to network with industry professionals as show off what we’ve been doing with the project.

IMPORTANT DATES

Nov. 12th – Steel Bridge Workday – 9am – 5pm

Nov. 14th – CENG Dean’s Advisory Council Poster Session – 12:30pm

Big news this week… steel has been ordered! With fabrication starting things have really gained momentum. Definitely make sure to keep involved so you can stay up to date with the project.

TEAM MEETING

Our team meetings will resume this week in building 192-208 at 3pm Friday. This week is important as we will be outlining the fabrication process. Again if you know anyone interested in the bridge team (especially those eligible for a senior captain spot next year) please bring them along.

LAST WEEK

Over the last week we ordered steel, did some machine prototyping, and started organizing the cage.

THIS WEEK

This week and especially Saturday we will have tons of work to do. The list includes finishing the steel racks, organizing the cage, and jig/connection prototyping. In the lab we will be deciding on bridge cuts for exact member dimensions, as well as, looking at where laterals will connect.

IMPORTANT DATES

Nov. 4th

IAB Presentation – 12pm (Senior Captains)

Team Meeting – 3pm (Bldg 192-208)

Nov. 5th

Steel Bridge Workday – 9am – 5pm

Nov. 14th

CENG Dean’s Advisory Council Poster Session – 12:30pm

TEAM MEETING

Our team meetings will resume this week in building 192-208 at 3pm Friday. This week is important as we will be outlining the fabrication process. Again if you know anyone interested in the bridge team (especially those eligible for a senior captain spot next year) please bring them along.

IMPORTANT DATES

Nov. 4th

IAB Presentation – 12pm (Senior Captains)

Team Meeting – 3pm (Bldg 192-208)

Nov. 5th

Steel Bridge Workday – 9am – 5pm

Nov. 14th

CENG Dean’s Advisory Council Poster Session – 12:30pm

Rules are out for the 2012 Season so lets all start reading them cover to cover.

The team is back from nationals in Texas and almost caught up on sleep.


The National Breakdown– Lakehead took first by placing in most all of the categories. We took a close 6th place; finishing 5th in Construction Speed, 4th in Lightness, 8th in Display, 16th in Stiffness, 7th in Economy, 5th in Efficiency and only $610,650 out of 1st.


Check back in the coming weeks for photos of the bridge and nationals


The team would like to thank everyone that has supported us in efforts this year.