Custom Steel Bridge

I posted, not too long ago, about a steel bridge that I had just made a 3d cad drawing of and was about to begin work on… well here’s the finished product!

This bridge is 8’ (actually just shy, at 7’8”) and the top platform sits 12” above the ground, and it was a whole lot of fun to make - I ran the gamut of my skills to button this project up.

As with most projects, this one needed to start with a firm foundation.

This base of this bridge is comprised of heavy duty 11 gauge 3x3 box steel, all MIG welded together with complete weld seams. I wanted this bridge to be able to hold hundreds of pounds, and for that job, short welded stitches or tacks just would not suffice.

With a strong base for the bridge complete, it was time to start on the railings.

I wasn’t stellar at math when I was a kid, and so it feels as though I’ve tripped into some kind of small hell every time I need to tackle a project that is, for all intents and purposes, a word problem…CAD programs are helpful, but human error and on-the-fly changes to design are sure to give a headache to anyone that hated geometry as a kid…BUT WE PERSIST.

This CNC-cut Eagle was a fun reprieve from the all of angles.

I had to trouble shoot how to, from a 2x2 CNC plasma cutter, get a 4’ wide steel eagle. My solution wasn’t terribly clever: cut the thing out in pieces and tack it together. What do you know, my not-so-clever solution worked like a charm, and we ended up with the most patriotic-looking thing to ever come out of my shop.

There was a great deal of tweaking and adjusting I went through, but to be perfectly candid, reading about it would be less interesting than a set of IKEA assembly instructions for a MÖRBYLÅNGA, so lets just jump ahead to the completed product…one that I am extremely proud to put my name on.

8’ custom steel bridge, complete with pressure treated 2x12 decking, and the most patriotic decal you could hope to find on a backyard bridge.