Spaghetti bridge

To make a spaghetti bridge you will need the following materials :

Some sort of cutting surface to protect the work area. I use a rubber self healing cutting mat that has the added benefit of having measurement grids marked on it.



cutting mat to protect work surfaces

To make a spaghetti bridge you need ...........we'll..duh.........spaghetti.....the long string kind.

Use the long string spaghetti..the cheapest brand you can buy.

To ensure it is possible to glue the spaghetti together it will be necessary to stick the spaghetti to a flat surface while the glue dries. I use sticky tape and bits of blu-tac. Small pieces are best so they don't get in the way of any gluing later on.

Use any type of tape but make sure it comes of easily or else the spaghetti will snap.

To cut the spaghetti to length I have found the best way is to score it slightly with a sharp scalpel or knife and then to snap it by hand..it breaks really easily. 

Use a sharp craft knife, scalpel or blade to gently score the speghetti then snap by hand.

While the whole idea of a spaghetti bridge is that it is fun, it is also an engineering project so you need to be somewhat accurate. Therefore a ruler is a great idea so you can have all the bits the same size. Usually it is better to slightly oversize your pieces and then they can be shaved to size as required.

a small steel ruler is ideal for sizing your spaghetti pieces.

To glue the spaghetti pieces together I use a PVA glue. This sticks well and dries clear so you cannot really see the glue joints. Note that any glue is going to soak into your spaghetti causing it to swell and distort so make the glue joints as small as possible. To make the glue handling easier I pour a smll amount into a plastic tray.....and old yogurt pot works just as well.

Use a PVA glue to stick the spaghetti together

In order to get the glue in the right spot I use a small old paintbrush with a fine tip. Dip the paintbrush into the PVA glue and position it where required on the spaghetti joint. A toothpick or small needle would work just as well. Note you cannot use the paintbrush for painting again so make sure it is an old one you have no further use for. Keep it for applying glue only.



Use a fine paintbrush (old one) to position the glue exactly where you want it.

Continue to Part 2