Building a treehouse in the redwood grove of a neighbor (pic

[Leon]

On 9/29/2014 6:02 PM, Oren wrote:

On Mon, 29 Sep 2014 19:25:42 +0000 (UTC), "Danny D."
dannydiamico@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm just the free help (we
all have Spanish nicknames when we do free labor. I'm "Rodruigo", and my
wife's nom-de-labor is "Marisol", for example).

I keep threatening that I'm gonna call OSHA on them if I fall or if they
don't provide cold soda (the free soda has been warm, to date).

It's an insult to call a Mexican a Spaniard!

Why did you say that? Having a Spanish nick name does not assess any
nationality at all.

 

[Oren]

On Tue, 30 Sep 2014 14:05:29 -0500, Leon <lcb11211@swbelldotnet>
wrote:

On 9/29/2014 6:02 PM, Oren wrote:
On Mon, 29 Sep 2014 19:25:42 +0000 (UTC), "Danny D."
dannydiamico@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm just the free help (we
all have Spanish nicknames when we do free labor. I'm "Rodruigo", and my
wife's nom-de-labor is "Marisol", for example).

I keep threatening that I'm gonna call OSHA on them if I fall or if they
don't provide cold soda (the free soda has been warm, to date).

It's an insult to call a Mexican a Spaniard!


Why did you say that? Having a Spanish nick name does not assess any
nationality at all.

I was suggesting to Danny, based on my experience, that Mexicans do
like to be called Spaniards. They take is personally. I can't speak
for every Mexican, just what I have observed. Call a Mexican a
"wetback" - they don't seem so bothered by it.

 

[Oren]

On Tue, 30 Sep 2014 12:32:29 -0700, Oren <Oren@127.0.0.1> wrote:

It's an insult to call a Mexican a Spaniard!


Why did you say that? Having a Spanish nick name does not assess any
nationality at all.

I was suggesting to Danny, based on my experience, that Mexicans do
like to be called Spaniards. They take is personally. I can't speak
for every Mexican, just what I have observed. Call a Mexican a
"wetback" - they don't seem so bothered by it.

Leon,

Read that as "do not like to be called Spaniards"...

 

[Lew Hodgett]

"Danny D." wrote:

Only that each cable supports 14,000 pounds!
----------------------------------------------

"Lew Hodgett" wrote:

In days of yore I worked as a design engineer for heavy duty
steel mill and foundry equipment, but that was then and this is now.

For designs involving steel cable and human safety, the basic
safety factor applied was 5.

IOW, 14,000/5 = 2,800 pounds as the basic design limit.

Dynamic loading would apply another 50% derate.

IOW, 2,800*50% = 1,400 pounds for dynamic loads.

Based on the posts I have seen, your group needs some
serious help before people get hurt or worse.

Lew Hodgett, PE Retired

-----------------------------------------------------
What I forgot to include was that the above design loads are for
tensile loads.

Bending loads require a further derate.

The reader is left to determine the value from any decent
structural engineering text.

And now you know one of the reasons why I'm retired.

Lew Hodgett, PE Retired

 

[Stormin Mormon]

On 9/30/2014 8:37 PM, Lew Hodgett wrote:

IOW, 14,000/5 = 2,800 pounds as the basic design limit.

Dynamic loading would apply another 50% derate.

Bending loads require a further derate.

The reader is left to determine the value from any decent
structural engineering text.

And now you know one of the reasons why I'm retired.

Lew Hodgett, PE Retired

Sounds like not much fort, at derate we're going.

--
..
Christopher A. Young
Learn about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

 

[Danny D.]

Seymore4Head wrote, on Tue, 30 Sep 2014 15:57:42 -0400:

There is one picture of a guy standing right beside the tree. If he is
6' feet tall, then the top of the picture would be about 42 feet.

He's about 6'2" or 6'3" tall.
https://c4.staticflickr.com/4/3901/15188714847_e77461b64d_c.jpg

And, those are the *small* redwoods halfway down.
https://c4.staticflickr.com/4/3865/15195194790_8fe8c93589_c.jpg

The big redwood tree is another ten or twenty feet below that, downhill,
whereas the 100-foot long 10-feet wide suspension bridge will be level.
https://c4.staticflickr.com/4/3873/15302627625_fc5bab3e26_c.jpg

It's a "home engineering" project, in the Santa Cruz mountains!

 

[Danny D.]

Danny D. wrote, on Wed, 01 Oct 2014 11:09:36 +0000:

BTW, today we devised a (potentially ingenious) method to *level* the
two cables.

I couldn't snap a picture because we were installing WiFi rooftop radios
most of the day and I was using the cell phone for signal strength and
interference observations, so the battery had died by the time we got to
the treehouse.

However, I'll explain in words, and later snap a picture for you, as to
how we devised a "tool" to measure the respective cable sag.

Sorry it took me so long.

Here's a picture of the method we used to level the two 100 foot cables:
https://c4.staticflickr.com/4/3948/15314983930_3c606db7b4_b.jpg

We basically made a ten-foot wide T-square, where we used a level on the
vertical bar to measure how level the two cables were.

If they weren't so high off the ground on the very steep slope, we'd just
hang a lead weight from the midpoint of each cable, with an even length
of rope for each cable - but we preferred to work at the only *flat* part
along the entire 100 foot length of the two cables.

It was really difficult working in the trees to pull the cable around as
it's both very high up in the air, as you can see by this netting we
rigged:
https://c4.staticflickr.com/4/3928/15501340972_e31032dcd7_c.jpg

And, the last redwood tree downhill itself is pretty gnarly, as shown
here looking up at the same netting but from the safety of the ground:
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5607/15498557171_df86936bcb_b.jpg

 

[Danny D.]

Danny D. wrote, on Sat, 11 Oct 2014 05:38:07 +0000:

Here's a picture of the method we used to level the two 100 foot cables:
https://c4.staticflickr.com/4/3948/15314983930_3c606db7b4_b.jpg

You can see the fencepost digger in that picture above, over to the left.

It wasn't easy, mainly because the California sediments are hard as rock
this time of year, and, we were roped to trees so we wouldn't fall down
the hill while we were drilling the fencepost hole in the slope:
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5599/15501340252_51f138a020_b.jpg

It was my first fencepost hole in my life, so, I was surprised that the
two bags of concrete mix went in dry:
https://c3.staticflickr.com/3/2947/15478564076_2f97dc13ea_c.jpg

Being on a 45 degree slope, it was impossible to keep the water in the
hole, so, we tried containing it with a cut-off bucket - but it didn't
work all that well to contain the water:
https://c4.staticflickr.com/4/3937/15315052878_bdd8583976_c.jpg

The second fencepost hole, for the drawbridge-like structure, wasn't as
hard to drill as it was on a much (much) flatter portion of the hill
where a path crossed under the cables strung between the redwood trees:
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5602/15314984030_b5cd30457c_b.jpg

The last step of the evening was to stain the boards that will be used
for the hundred foot long ten feet wide bridge from the top of the hill
to the far redwood tree:
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5609/15501720095_aa0a849e04_c.jpg

 

[josephkk]

On Sat, 11 Oct 2014 05:48:37 +0000 (UTC), "Danny D."
<dannydiamico@gmail.com> wrote:

It was my first fencepost hole in my life, so, I was surprised that the
two bags of concrete mix went in dry:
https://c3.staticflickr.com/3/2947/15478564076_2f97dc13ea_c.jpg

Being on a 45 degree slope, it was impossible to keep the water in the
hole, so, we tried containing it with a cut-off bucket - but it didn't
work all that well to contain the water:
https://c4.staticflickr.com/4/3937/15315052878_bdd8583976_c.jpg

When i have seen that done it didn't work out that well, the concrete
never set properly. Sometimes it had to be dug out a few years layer and
done normally mixed before placement after removing the mush.

?-)