Construction Updates
From Batcountry
See Construction Updates Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5
Here we show our construction process for Bat Country.
[edit] Materials
Here is our lot of bats and rods that will form most of the structure. In all, we have 384 plus extras of each.
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These are some of the nuts, bolts and washers we will use. We also have a couple other boxes in different sizes, too.
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[edit] Steps for Preparing Bats
To prepare each bat, we drill both ends with a drill press. Then, we core each end with a hand held drill. It turns out, our bats aren't hollow. They are filled with polystyrene.
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The left photo shows our workspace in the garage. So far, we have almost 400 half drilled bats in the the brown boxes. The bats in the tubs are being assembled with steel rods and joint-nut thingies to hold the bats onto the rods in exactly the right place. Paul shows a fully assembled joint attached to one bat. When Bat Country is fully assembled, six bats will be bolted into each joint.
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All but 60 of the rods need to be cut by a few inches. First, we cut the end, then file the end.
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Lastly, we use a special nut with cutting threads to restore the threads at the end of the rod so the bolts will connect easily.
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[edit] Gen 1 Sierpinski Tetrahedron
One down, 15 to go...
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Go on to Construction Updates 2
All images, designs, and text on this site © 2005-2008 Gwen Fisher and/or Paul Brown. Permission required for any capture or reuse.
