Support Cantilevered Sculpture?

[Hotfoot]

I posted on this about a year ago, then gave up after numerous failed attempts.

Background: Robert 'Bob' Fuller was an Internationally Acclaimed sculptor. He set himself ablaze in his studio while welding (!!!:eek:), and suffered massive Second and Third degree burns (couldn't remove his clothing fast enough once he realized he was on fire). Bob was in his 80's, and just couldn't recover. He passed away last year, leaving his widow totally buried in huge Medical Bills.

At a local covered dish gathering, his widow approached me, and asked if I would be able to re-assemble two of his pieces, which were "all there", but Bob never got to re-construct them after they had been out to shows. I agreed to take a look, and accepted the challenge...Now Bob knew what he was doing, but never left any "crumbs for others to follow", so I was on my own.

The first piece (which I decided was going to be the quickest, was a pile of rusting steel rod under tarp outside. These were the makings of his Giant Mosquito (25 foot leg span). Working alone, that one took me about three weeks (35 miles from me, so lots of back-and-forth)...no two connections were the same, nothing marked in any way I could make sense out of. It was made to hang (it had been displayed in Houston City Hall hanging in an atrium), but there was no spot, so I made simple stand for it.

http://i45.tinypic.com/25zqkwk.jpg

http://i48.tinypic.com/30ixqj4.jpg

http://i45.tinypic.com/1448w3n.jpg

So, having so glibly committed myself to the two pieces, I turned to the 'Red Lady', (officially "Gender Breakthrough")...a larger than life piece that has a headless lady flying through a steel wall, while her head is locked in a barred cell door down in the corner...(HEY! Its ART!!).

The wall was already erected, and is made up of 1/8" sheet steel plates covering a rectangle made from 2 x 4" channel steel, with criss-cross angle bracing inside the support the weight of the piece. The piece itself (a 6 foot long torso, and two slightly larger than life arms) had been lying outside in the woods, next to the "wall" Bob just never got to finish erecting it.

Here was the piece at a show in Chicago in 1998:

http://i49.tinypic.com/2vcbxfn.jpg

http://i46.tinypic.com/wbqkpu.jpg

So, the wall is erected, but the 'Lady' lies on the ground. The wall is 15 feet tall...12 feet above the base, which I can stand on....MY QUESTION for the forum...

The only attachment for the 'lady are these two threaded 1/2" rods, which appear to be CorTen Steel, as does the whole piece (bob used a lot of that, and there is a large pile of 1/4 CorTen Rod still there she'd like to sell). These rods are supposed to slip through two of the six (unmarked) holes, and pass through angle pieces, the snug this sculpture, which weighs a bit over 100 pounds at the crazy angle he built. (reminds me of Superman flying through a window)...all this well over my head, with no overhead trees, etc, to attach any lifting device to. I have a single scaffold in place, which gets within about three or four feet of where the Lady needs to be, but had a helper there for a couple days, and we could not get the bolt holes to line up at all!..then, I got to wondering..

"Will these two bolts support that Cantilevered Load??"

http://i49.tinypic.com/2l7ry9.jpg

[Roger]

Why not mount this onto vertical test wall near ground making it much easier to test how to mount, if bolts will hold load and what to add to help carry load if needed. Might have to use over size holes with washers.

[Hotfoot]

Excellent thinking, Roger! I was already in the process of cutting a 3/4" plywood "dummy wall section" just to get the bolts right...I can make that a more substantial test wall, and test not only that alignment (which I think is going to involve straightening out those rods, which may have been bent in dis-assembly), but the suitability of those two bolts to hold 'er up! (I'll use large fender washers as backers, and on the front, sandwiching the ply between two nuts. I'll be able to make a simple cradle to hold the torso in the exact position (that composite photo above is all I have to work with. Bob did a small model, but the angles are completely different. The torso looks like the "shoulders take a lot of the support.

Good idea,,,,I'll report back!:)

[Wyoming]

Foot, I don't know if it would be of help, but Gillette is sort of unique in the industries it has nearby...oil field, railroad, methane gas, etc. and the scrap yard cast offs. Local industries will often scrap out or surplus new equipment...I've an air-over-hyd. pump because it either ran low on hyd. fluid or didn't have the capacity needed for whatever job was asked of it for example. Anyway, plenty of large...well, LARGE bolts, stu-ds nuts and washers up at the shop...if you need 'em. Long as they will fit in a USPS Express Mail Flat Rate box...

[Hotfoot]

Great idea, too, Wyoming! I could make it strong....but the problem is going to be getting to any interior spots on the sculpture to get a good weld, because its so tightly "webbed" with strap and rod...and all that Corten is so rusted, I would have to get my flap disc in there to do decent weld prep in order to properly anchor the bolts.

I even have considered a car axle slipped in for about three feet, painted to match (I'm going to re-spray the whole thing once its mounted...have to be with my Wagner, as there is no 220 available, and it will be 100 feet of extension cord even for that...the same limitation is holding back many welded solutions I have thought of....my 125EZ is a stout- hearted little guy, but not up to serious joints.

(The Red Lady is shown here stuffed under my hedge in my back yard, hence all the dried Boxwood Leaves all over it.)

http://i50.tinypic.com/23rkg1d.jpg

http://i46.tinypic.com/34nh7yv.jpg

That was one of Bob's "styles"...like this antelope, now located outside a Houston Medical Office...

http://i46.tinypic.com/2lwlxxe.jpg

or this life sized elephant, located at the Houston Zoo...

http://i48.tinypic.com/mtv09u.jpg

[Wyoming]

Foot,
Yeah, I see what you mean! If I can be of any help, just give me a shout in a PM. It doesn't appear that the "problem" is going to have a quick solution, does it? If points are awarded for helping out the artist's widow, you have them from my corner.

[urch55]

If the issue is if two threaded rods will hold the weight of the body and the holes don't line up, why not just rent a mobile welder and weld the body to the wall?? Once it's assembled it's there to stay anyway right???

[Hotfoot]

If the issue is if two threaded rods will hold the weight of the body and the holes don't line up, why not just rent a mobile welder and weld the body to the wall?? Once it's assembled it's there to stay anyway right???

Another excellent idea, Urch! She'll have to sign off on any modification, but even if it ever has to be moved, the arms could be detached, then the wall laid flat with the Lady pointing her feet in the air.

I still like my car axle inspiration, with the Lady 'skiskabobbed' on it, then just a couple simple tack weld to keep her from rotating.

[Ferntj]

I would measure the distance between the rods and then find the holes that are that space apart.

Two 1/2 inch rods will hold the 6 foot long 100 pound torso with a good safety margin. The safety margin is at least 2 if the center of mass is all the way out at the feet, and probably better than 4. I would not do any modificatoins other than possibly making a hole slightly larger to get the rods through.

Did yo consider attaching the torso with the wall horizontal and then errecting the wall with the toros attached?

[Hotfoot]

I would measure the distance between the rods and then find the holes that are that space apart.

Two 1/2 inch rods will hold the 6 foot long 100 pound torso with a good safety margin. The safety margin is at least 2 if the center of mass is all the way out at the feet, and probably better than 4. I would not do any modificatoins other than possibly making a hole slightly larger to get the rods through.

Did yo consider attaching the torso with the wall horizontal and then errecting the wall with the toros attached?

Wall was already erected by the artist before he died. No two hole match the rods, but it is apparent that the rods were bent...either by mishandling, or sloppy dismantling from its last show (he may have had others do that job). Another threaded rod fell out of the Lady when I first handled her, but everything was rusted to the point that I could never determine where that third rod had been attached...I suspect it was broken off under the same circumstances that bent the other two...which I have now straightened, using a length of pipe.

I was not concerned with the ability of the 1/2 rods to take the weight, but more with their ability to take it without bending ( I bent them back quite easily with a five foot pipe) It'll be a couple days before i can get back to it, but I'll lead off with my plywood template, based on a rubbing I did of the wall holes.

[Wyoming]

Foot,
When you get to working on the hole/bolt location(s) again, take the rubbing and match the distance of the holes on it to the remaining bolts on the torso at the location on the bolts where they would be flush up to the face of the wall while taking into consideration the angle of the torso. I would think that Mr. Fuller was looking to utilize maximum strength in his mechanical joint and have those bolts passing through the face of the wall draw the torso up to the face using the end(s) of the torso's metal to provide a flange to spread out the load. If that was indeed his thoughts, the bolts would not be the primary support of the torso to the wall, but would provide connection while the torso end(s) would work as the cantilever supports (realizing that this is only my take and backed up with no real knowledge or book smarts...just remember ya' saw it on the Internet, so it's gotta be right ;) ). Hopefully, if you are able to figure out the original two bolt locations you will be able to extrapolate the third. Not worded any too well, but hope it made sense...if you already hadn't came to the same conclusion when you first looked at the structure. Best of luck either way.

[Hotfoot]

I agree, Wyoming. The shoulders are much further apart than the bolts, so the 'load spread' is going to be through them, they are also angled at roughly 45 degrees from horizontal (but horizontal was his original concept as shown in his models...but the angle produces a much more dynamic "breakthrough")....

Man, if only I had a Sky Hook! It would be mucho easier if it could be suspended in position...even if I had more scaffolding I could rig 'er up

[Hotfoot]

Well, I was wrong about those threaded rods, they are 3/8", not 1/2" as I said...Only one is welded at multiple points, and those welds are just little tacks...hard too see in this picture, because the Corten is doing its flaky-rust thing...which will also make any new welds difficult because I cannot get grinder access in there...

This is the "Long" threaded 3/8" rod. Each place it touches is welded. Its about 17" overall, then just ends...personally I would have run it through the piece, or hooked it back, so compression/stretching would be borne by something other than those little tack welds.

http://i48.tinypic.com/2chwf1g.jpg

The one other rod is shorter (about 8"), and only has two spot welds . All that entangled rod and strap steel is what denies good access.

http://i46.tinypic.com/9to5rt.jpg

Once I moved this inside my shop, I could see that hanging her off that one long and one short rod is not going to be the recipe for success. :o

I could do like a surgeon, and go in from the never to be seen again back side (it'll be facing the sky 15 feet off the ground), and slice a section out, do some good welds on well-prepped joints, then "stitch her Back together" as best I could before spray painting the whole piece...I could do all that in my shop at comfortable table-top level.

[Wyoming]

Not a quick fix in sight, eh Foot? If it helps, I have a Milwaukee die grinder you're welcome to borrow...break it/buy it, maim it/repair it. Also have several hundred, my anticipated "lifetime" supply of grinding stones for the tip...heart case.
http://www.northerntool.com/images/product/images/m0115_lg.jpg Brand X, Scotty boy, tells me that no good deed goes unpunished...he always has good advice, but I'm guessing that you are of similar age as I, older actually, and still remember what your parents taught you about other people's equipment. Give me a shout if it looks like the grinder may be of use to you...for this project dammit, not feeding your tool box for the unforeseeable future!

Rent some scaffolding! Every rental outfit around this neck of the woods has scaffold for rent. Ran a stage higher that you need and top with a composite/laminated wood beam to hoist off of. You should be in like Flynn.

EDIT: Personally, from looking at that tower you have for the torso to attach to, I'd unbolt the sheet that the torso attaches to, mount the torso in your shop with a larger than 120v welder, hoist the torso and panel back to the top and bolt it back up.

[urch55]

Why not just sandblast where you want to weld... I still think you should just weld her up on the wall. As far as "signing off" on the idea, it sounds like you will have to change alot of things anyway that this guy Bob has planned.
Has this gone from a mole hill to a mountain yet???;)