Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Construction continues: beams and braces

(Japanese article is here.)



The construction has quite progressed last week.



All pillars now stand in their place. The next stage is attaching horizontal pipes to the pillars 3 meters above the ground. The horizontal pipes are (probably) called beams. With no engineering background, I'm increasingly grappling to find the right vocabulary. If you notice any big mistake in these articles, let me know! 




 



This is a picture from ground works. Workmen are setting up a pillar while measuring the exact position.


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All pillars are now standing! Ground works completed:


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If you look closer at the picture above, in the back you can see a few horizontal pipes attached to the pillars. The workmen had set them up experimentally as the last thing on that day. A closer view:




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To make the frame strong and stable, it's important to connect pillars and beams with diagonal pipes called braces.


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There are 3 to 4 braces per pillar, and each connecting point has to be attached with a clamp, so it might take some time to finish.




Workmen sitting on a stepladder, tightening a clamp.




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Unlike the first week of construction, the second week was cloudy and with cooler temperatures, so the work was probably easier. On the other hand, rainy days might have been tougher than the hot but sunny days last week. Despite the rain workmen did a great job again.






This is the progress made so far:


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A view from the opposite side:


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For my fellow non-engineer non-native speakers who are as clueless about beams and braces as I am, here's how I understand it. I hope it's right:







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