aluminum pedestrian bridge

this thing goes up and down. i am ordering a hydraulic cylinder to replace the one being used now. i shortened up the truss work to allow an additional 7 inches of space for when the bridge is raised and a boat is passing through. does not seem like much but when the winds are out of the east or west every inch counts. all done with a spool gun. thought i took a finished pic but i guess not but you get the idea.

i cut out the old stuff and put in a new piece of al sq tubing, it runs out on the right so that the cylinder in not exposed. the ends were trimmed to fit. bessey clamps and pipe clamps pulled it into shape.

all work was done on a raft. you have to deal with a raft that is so light it spins easily (the force of the wire pressing against the material will push you away) the tides go up and down, there is almost always wind, and this evening 6 pm to 5 am several rain squalls. currently the tides are extreme, when i started it was high and i had to lay on my back to fit under the bridge. when it was low i was holding the gun at shoulder height and above.

It has been gusty last 5-10 days. Did you have the tank on the raft with you? Or on bridge. What did you use for cutting?

Does not look easy on a raft. But if it pays

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Originally Posted by everlastsupport

It has been gusty last 5-10 days. Did you have the tank on the raft with you? Or on bridge. What did you use for cutting?

Does not look easy on a raft. But if it pays

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it pays.

my spool gun gives me 30 feet and i have a 50 foot extension for it. if possible i keep the gas on the truck, i don't like lugging the gas bottle. i can run an extension cord from my inverter, if that is what i am using, and run a hundred feet of argon line to the inverter. at this job i was running off the trailblazer. i cut most everything with a 7 1/4 in skill saw and cheap blades. i removed, somewhat visible at the centerpoint on the front, about 35 pounds of 1/2 in aluminum plate. again with skill saw and sawzall with demo blade. mullet are running, a few times during the night there were some very large fish moving beneath me.

i have found that in a lot of cases, for me, the tig is pretty much useless. you really have to try the raft to fully appreciate it, each place you go to that is on the water has there own unit; not to mention when a boat passes and you bob up and down in its wake.

Nice work. Must have been interesting welding with the ground (raft) beneath you bobbing and wanting to spin beneath you.

With all of that argon line, did you need to spend much time ensuring only argon was left in the line by purging before you started to weld or do you always have that much line connected and filled?