NEW YORK | One World Trade Center | 1,776' Pinnacle / 1,373' Roof | 108 FLOORS

[meh_cd]

Originally Posted by Zensteeldude

The sky lobby is just like all the other office floors except for a large floor opening on the north side. The prints of the observation deck look exactly like an empty office floor except for the step in the floor slab.

I guess I'm saying no, the pics I post are low rez or vague on porpoise.

Alright, alright. Just wanted to ask because you said you might be able to over @ WNY a while ago.

[uaarkson]

I want to show a friend of mine the progress that's been made since last year. Does anyone have any earthcam shots from October or later of last year? So I can do a side by side comparison.

[Esab]

Originally Posted by Puzzlecraft

ESAB - Excellent post.

Thanks mate

Im only talking from experience. I started out on the steel doing the snagging and alterations. Then a lot of years erecting. I am also involved in producing fabrication drawings for steel as well and having had my past experiences it helps a lot in regard to being able to spot potential erection problems before they get to the fabrication stage.

A project this size is always going to have parts that dont fit without some modification. To be honest though the majority of it will probably fit really well. I can bet as well that if its the same problem or similar whenever something isnt fitting there will be comments passed back to the fabrication shops and the draughtsman.

In an ideal world draughtspersons and fabricators should have really had some experience erecting. A set of holes that dont line up on a piece of paper or on the workshop floor is one thing. Up in the air..in the wind and rain and at the end of a shift is a whole different matter.

Its gone from a wipe with a rubber or a tap with a hammer you picked up from your work bench to the hassle of getting the gear you need to the place you want it. Probably involving cranes and access platforms and more than one person. Then you need hot work permits and all related. What was a 2 minute job can easily turn into half a days work once erected. Something you never really appreciate until its either A) You paying for it or B) Your the one up there having to sort it.

I could go on and on about it

Could see a lot of hot sparks earlier on the webcam feeds so I would bet that everythings being sorted as and when they get chance.
Would be great if we could find out more but I guess the chances of that are very slim. Maybe there will be a documentary one day that just might tell us.. lol...I wish. From what I have seen in the past they usually turn trivial things into full on dramas....flashy camera angles and dramatic music...making it seem a major problem...all for the viewers sake <sigh> and never actually 'tell' you what the problem was....

Getting carried away now...new here so wont outstay my welcome. Would have posted earlier but its taken me weeks to read through this thread properly alone..let alone the other ones!

Andy

[Zensteeldude]

Welcome to the forum Andy

Y'all should read every post from Esab twice, he knows his stuff. Though some of his posts need to be interpreted from English to American.

I would just add that a shop guy earns $20 to $30 an hour where as an Ironworker makes $41 an hour plus $52 an hour in benefits. An ohshit that makes it to the field is rather expensive. Figure 3 Ironworkers and if they need a crane that's $1,750 per HALF hour.

[speedy1979]

Originally Posted by Zensteeldude

I count 6 ohshits in that pic. One below the 2 on the left. The one to the left of the one on the right, and one of the white baffle supports.

Make that 7. The one all the way at the bottom below the ones on the left.

With all those diagonals and all the welded connections I'm not surprised .

Silverstein and the PA had better hope that the tabloids don't get wind of those "ohshits".

I can only imagine the headlines.

[MadGnome]

I have some construction experience, but the fact that they make 99% of that steel align within 1/16" or so boggles what I laughingly refer to as a mind. The need to perform a little Kentucky tuning on an occasional piece isn't all that surprising. Hell, the unpredictable air temps alone are probably enough to make exact alignment impossible every time. No doubt it's a heckuva a lot faster making the occasional adjustment when they're stacking steel this fast than having to get every piece perfect the first try.

[scalziand]

Originally Posted by speedy1979

Silverstein and the PA had better hope that the tabloids don't get wind of those "ohshits".

I can only imagine the headlines.

Add the WTC II, or whatever the next version is going to be called, folk to the mix. We'd get pages of spam from that.

[Rizzo]

Are we all talking about those horizontal connections near the diagonals? I think they are waiting until the diagonals are perfectly plumb before they are connected. I'm not expert or engineer but I find this typical in a lot of steel construction that I've observed. It's kind of like the "don't tighten all the screws until it's assembled" idea.

[Esab]

Originally Posted by Hayward

Are we all talking about those horizontal connections near the diagonals? I think they are waiting until the diagonals are perfectly plumb before they are connected. I'm not expert or engineer but I find this typical in a lot of steel construction that I've observed. It's kind of like the "don't tighten all the screws until it's assembled" idea.

I can see where you are coming from and in fact its common to leave bolts loose when erecting some types of structures. Im pretty certain though that especially in the case where you can see the beam part way up not fixed and the ones above it are that it is not fitting.
The main columns on this part of the building are going to be weighing in at tens of tons and wont be something you want to be having out of plumb for long when fitting other steel to them. Pretty sure that the majority of it will be plumbed up as its erected.

When they start putting in the floor beams inbetween the main steel these will be likely left loose until each section is completed and probably have guys following on tightening up. Some of the joints are going to be taking quite a while to tighten and you would think they would be getting as many beams in as they can in the hours of daylight they have.

Again this points to why the beams we can see that are not finished obviously havent fitted and have been left. Its very much a case of 'leave it ..its not affecting us to the point of stopping us so lets keep going' One of the last things you want to be doing is putting steel back down on the floor hence why they have bolted what they can one end and left the other out of place.

Of course...this is all just my thoughts and I may be totally wrong but its looks very much as if it could be the case. We most likely will never know!

The other beams that we can see (just to the right of the crane lattice) look to be the last ones fitted in that side. Judging by the sheer amount of steel already fixed either side I very much doubt its possible to move the columns and I would say those are definetly in need of snagging. I bet there is a few head scratching moments going on in regard to these because as posted above...it starts getting expensive when sorting out these issues. It dont take much with steel the thickness these are to stop you getting a bolt in.

I have seen some of the perimiter steels on a video clip and they look to be RHS (Box) sections that have the top and bottom of them stripped back so as you can get hands inside to tighten bolts up...it may be that they have not been stripped back far enough to enable them to drop into place...and once they have been the holes line up ok...so many ifs and buts to be honest

I would love to be able to go and have a look around and talk to the guys erecting it

Andy

[NYguy]

Meanwhile, the race to finish the base continues...

JANUARY 8, 2010

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[rich_200]

The base should be done really soon

[Esab]

Stunning photos mate ...really really good and totally envious that you are able to get them. I have been examining them the last hour

You can see in photo 6 just what I mean about how the horizontal perimiter beams are connected. A lot of bolts in those connections.

You can see also that there a lot of welded joints which means that progress will be quite possibly slower some days when they have to wait for those to be 'tacked' into place as they go. Looks like there will be a few welders kept busy on this job if it carrys on the same as it rises.

In the picture below that is screen grabs from the World Trade Centre Progress website and Curbed website (who have visited the tower) you can see in closer detail the bolted connections and also just how much welding is required.




The 'V' you can see in the flange of the column above needs filling out. Few hours welding there to get that done.

You can also see in photos 12 and 13 a member sat up on a block. It looks like that is also a welded connection and must need some tweaking to fit. Might find it actually will fit but the gap at the root of the weld is too tight and needs re prepping. Without knowing the specs I am just guessing though but I would assume that everything on this has to be absolutly spot on.

If the root of a weld is a dead fit and full penetration is required then its suddenly made it way harder than it needs to be. The last thing you want is to have lack of root fusion when its tested and you have spent hours filling it out...to find it all has to be cut back out to sort it. Its all speculation really because I am only assuming but I know if I was welding it and it was a full strength weld required id be making sure it was right before I started...even if it did mean some extra prep work. Also wonder if the welders are paid per joint or are on an hourly wage? Not sure how it works over there.

The more you look at the photos the more you can see is welded and you get an idea of just how much work is involved.

Again lovely pictures...look forward to seeing more a sit rises....zoomed in too if you can! If its allowed of course

Andy

[CHAPINM1]

Great pictures as always! Just for clarification, crews are at this site 7 days a week right?

[sw5710]

do they work on sat and sun?

[JDRCRASH]

Wow, things are speeding up!

[NYguy]

Originally Posted by Esab

Stunning photos mate ...really really good and totally envious that you are able to get them. I have been examining them the last hour

The more you look at the photos the more you can see is welded and you get an idea of just how much work is involved.

Again lovely pictures...look forward to seeing more a sit rises....zoomed in too if you can! If its allowed of course

Thanks. I certainly will be visiting the site often. We've waited this long for things to rise, I'm not gonna miss it now. I think everyone who is in New York, or at least visits should check out the site and it's progress.

[OneWorldTradeCenter]

Thanks for all the pictures. The base will be complete soon, then typical floor construction can begin.

I hope they will add another crane soon...

[steveve]

Great progress!... I can't wait to see some glass on the base!!! it'll be sweet

[evanmack]

Will the normal floors go up faster or slower than the base???

[OneWorldTradeCenter]

Originally Posted by evanmack

Will the normal floors go up faster or slower than the base???

I whould say faster. And the higher floors will be smaller than the lower. The taller the building will rise, the floors will be built faster.