DIY Triangular Rotating Bridge(TRB)

Hi, my name is Isaac Ruddell and I am in the 7th grade. I created a water level rotating bridge for the reason that boats and other amphibious vehicles that need to get through, a pier on the bridge for fishers and jumpers, and just a pleasant bridge to walk on and see.

• Tinkercad Autodesk
• Imagination
• Rubber bands
• hot glue gun
• hot glue sticks

At Lake Mary, Flagstaff, there is nothing to cross the lake, no type of pier to fish on, and no place to jump in the water! I decided to design a bridge that incorporates all of those features, a bridge that rotates if boats need to get through, and is handicap accessible. This bridge blends into the green and brown of Flagstaff and connects the busy beach to the wilderness on the other side. It would be nice to be on it when it rotates if you were fishing for a long time and nothing was biting and then viola, the new spot had every fish in the lake. Plus, the rowdy teenagers could jump off the pier into the water below, and finally, you could just simply cross the bridge for a nice hike.

The idea for this bridge came from the Gateshead Millennium Bride in the UK. This bridge was very unique and very efficient in the way it rolls into a vertical position to let boats pass through and a horizontal position to allow the pedestrians to cross. Another idea came from a triangle, the strongest shape. The triangle was used as an aesthetic as well as a key structure in the design.

This is how I designed the TRB, but you can remodel any thing as you wish.

• Took a triangle(equilateral) and sized it up to make a pillar.
• Cut out a section for the deck about 1/3 of the way up
• Added aesthetics to pillar
• Created a base 2x the width and length of pillar and about 1/16 the height
• Added cylinder(rotary mechanism) to center of pillar
• Added loops for cables
• Created a triangular deck
• Added aesthetics to deck
• Constructed cables
• Added cables
• Added guard rails

Congrats! You have created a TRB. You can modify anything you would like on this and have fun if you do so!

P.S. the video below shows it step by step.

If you want to create a live model, then you can use the provided stl below. You will need pla and 3 rubber bands. These are the steps(pictures above).

• Glue rotary mechanism to base…
• While drying, cut rubber bands so that it is a strand instead of a loop and tie the ends to the loops on the top pillar
• Place deck on rotary mechanism and glue top pillar onto the rotary mechanism
• When dry, secure rubber bands to hooks on the bottom of the deck by glueing, taping, or tying, and cut any excess band off

You are now finished with your TRB!!!:)

P.S. Video below shows how it works.