The Week of January 1, 2018 — The Work Continues

The construction crew was back on the job on January 2, 2018. The ironworkers began the new year by lowering more spline beam nodes onto the isolators and bolting the intermediate steel beams to the spline beams. Welding the brackets to the damper pedestals continued. Once the brackets were welded, two 30-foot, six-thousand-pound dampers were inserted and pinned to the spline beam bracket and the damper pedestal bracket. Welders and pipe fitters continued to work on the mechanical pipes. The Electricians were hanging and attaching electrical conduit to pull wires through to bring electrical power for the temporary lighting. Within a few days, the scaffolding supporting the southeast side of the cap slab will be dismantled. Beginning January 3, the chronicler will take a week of R & R and will return to the site on January 11, 2018.

A live cam weekly construction update of the moat (aka the pit) taken 01.02.18 from the east tower of the Medical Center.

Before I arrived at the pit, I could hear the controlled ZZT, ZZTZZT, ZZTZZT ZZZT, ZZZZZZZZZTZZZZTZZZ, the familiar sound of the pneumatic torque wrench. Upon looking over the guardrail into the pit, I had a perfect vantage point to watch an ironworker operating the wrench as he systematically tightened the bolts on the top of a connecting plate. This photo illustrates that the proper torque had been achieved by the little squiggly silicone “strings” forced out from the channels of the bottom washers as the bolts are tightened.

A closeup of a RAD pneumatic torque wrench (1-1/2″ square drive series) with a reaction arm (yellow), which allows the wrench to push off of a stationary object such as a bolt in the photo above. Such a tool accessory aids in preventing injury to the operator.

A view of the pit from grade: The Spline Beam will be lifted by a crane with each node placed on an isolator. This beam will be placed in the elevator pit located in the southwest corner to the right of the photo.