Roof Truss Engineering Project
Design a pair of roof trusses to support a load of pennies.  You will work in engineering teams consisting of yourself and one other student to come up with a design that will support the greatest load. The load test will consist of suspending a set amount of pennies in addition to a varied amount of jelly beans.  Jelly beans will be added one by one until the roof trusses collapse.
 
Design:
Research common truss types to come up with a design. Draw full size to the following standards:
  • Drawing settings: Lower X is 0, Lower Y is 0,  Upper X is 11, Upper Y is 8.5
  • Truss pitch to be 6:12
  • Length to be 9 1/2"
  • Draw a border  around drawing

Each member of your team will draw a copy of your design and print out.  Hand one copy in and use the other copy to lay out your truss. (See Fig. 2)

Include the following in the Title Block:

  • Drawing Title
  • Truss type, (Fink, Howe, King Post, etc.),\
  • Scale
  • Your name
  • Date
  • Partners name

Fig. 1
Construction:
You will be supplied the following materials:
  • 7 pieces of spaghetti
  • 27" of masking tape
  • white glue
  • 2 popsicle sticks (to serve as mounting plates)

 
LFMSS Building Code:
  1. Trusses shall be of 6:12 Pitch
  2. Trusses shall have a maximum length of 9 1/2"
  3. Only approved materials and quantities shall be used in the construction of the trusses
  4. Individual truss components, (chords and webs), shall be joined by no other means than the supplied glue, tape, or both.
  5. Trusses shall be parallel mounted on wall plates, (popsicle sticks), and may be glued, taped, or both
  6. The parallel distance between individual trusses shall be a minimum of 1.5" and a maximum of 2 1'2".
  7. Minimum span between wall plates, (popsicle sticks), shall be 9".
  8. Other than plate mounting (Rule 5) individual trusses shall be joined solely by spaghetti.  There shall be no direct connection of tape.
  9. Trusses containing more than the authorized amount or type of materials will be disqualified.
  10.  Don't eat the spaghetti.
 
 

Fig. 2

Use one copy of your plan to layout your trusses. Cut pieces of masking tape to use a Truss Plates by placing under the joints.  Apply a small amount of white glue and fold tape over.
 
Fig. 3

Use cross-pieces to join trusses together.  Lay tape under joints as you did previously.
 

Fig. 4

Trusses are to be joined by spaghetti only, not tape.
 

Fig. 5

Completed Truss assembly.
 
 
Testing:
 (to be coninued)