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Eridge Station Footbridge - Update


Ark Royal

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Well its been a long time since i posted any updates on the progress of this topic , mainly down to the New Premises Issues, which can be found here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blog/35/entry-19433-eridge-mk-2-update-new-premises/.

 

In September 2016 i took the plunge to have the footbridge printed as one piece, with the plynths and luggage shute as seperate parts, originally the gallery and each staircase were also going to be seperate parts, At the time i thought this the best route and now i think maybe not. However it shows the technology and what should be thought about when having parts printed.

 

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So why the doubt ?

 

Well the plynths and luggage shute are fantastic. The level of detail is hard to match when scratch building. They are delicate but strong and I have absolutely no issues with these parts. They will find there place as part of the final Eridge Station Complex,

 

 

 

 

 


However the Complete Footbridge is not so strong in one area and this lets the model down. Originally i had planned to have the footbridge gallery walkway made from brass with additional supports in the form of I beams to support it between the 2 rear plynths.
Having seen the beautiful delicate luggage shute i decided to add the hatchway for this to the footbridge structure, this ultimately led to my downfall. After i'd made the design changes to incorporate the hatch i followed with the walkway structure made to a thickness of 1mm. This allowed the footbridge to still lock into the rear plynths and maintained the staircase height. This alone probably may have been substantial enough but then i added some relief to both upper and lower surfaces of the walkway to represent the floor planking. I have no idea what was going through my mind as no-one in the exhibition circuit would see this level of detail. Thus ultimately led to the decision to have the footbridge printed as one piece. Clearly this was never ever going to be substantial enough to support the weight. Added to that there was no direct structure between the gallery front and the rear roof member to the floor (as per the prototype) apart from the gallery side rear posts.

 

With all this in mind whilst printing it must have warped and the results are that the floor sags in the middle and this in turn causes the gallery sides to bow and twist.

 

All is not lost with this part of the build. My intention is to still use the stair sections with the gallery sides still connected. This will be mounted onto a brass section as originally intended, probably now with the gallery front structure being made from brass.

 

The lesson learnt - whilst trying to keep to prototypical design , allowances have to be made to ensure the structure you are making is strong enough to support itself. Also whilst this technology allows for the finest of detail, this in itself can lead to complications in the structures strength. Prehaps when designing structures that span a distance unsupported the addition of some temporary bracing whilst the item is being manufactured would have kept this structure square and true.

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