Question on three sided tower tilt over base
By elt, Section Mechanical Posted on Fri Aug 1st, 2008 at 10:03:21 PM MST
ready to build but not sure what to build ...

I'm wondering how to make a tilt-over base for my DMX tower. I assembled three sections to give me some inspiration - I've come up with or seen three ideas of making the base: 1) a solid bottom plate with a hinge, 2) three sides of angle iron with a hinge and 3) one side of angle iron with a hinge - In all cases, I'm thinking of a pipe or two pipe parts welded along one side to form the moving part of the hinge. The manufacturer's base looks like it's a solid base and seems to be made out of thick gauge sheet metal. Google-ing the board, I've seen #1 made out of fairly heavy plate and well as #2. I haven't seen #3 though it seems the simplest to implement. Does having anything under the far leg do anything while the tower is being raised? As I count it, there are already sixty cross braces tying the far leg to the other two, is that enough? Thank you very much,  - Ed.

Question on three sided tower tilt over base | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 editorial)

Re: Question on three sided tower tilt over base (3.00 / 0) (#1) by kenputer on Fri Aug 1st, 2008 at 07:16:52 PM MST (User Info)

I made my tilt tower using angle iron on the sides and welding 1' round stock to the plate,also added ginpole connected to 12 volt,1500 lb. winch to raise and lower.  Works good only takes about 5 minutes to unhook guys and lower. Hope this helps ken

Re: Question on three sided tower tilt over base (3.00 / 0) (#2) by elt on Sat Aug 2nd, 2008 at 07:07:09 AM MST (User Info)

Thanks Ken, I hope it's okay to ask a few questions... It looks like you made the solid plate kind of hinge; how thick is the plate? Is that just one hold down bolt in the middle of it? I'm guessing that square plate in foreground is the washer for the bolt. It looks like the fixed part of the hinge is square; what does having steel on the opposite side from the pivot do? Thank you very much,  - Ed. [ Parent ]

Re: Question on three sided tower tilt over base (3.00 / 0) (#5) by kenputer on Sun Aug 3rd, 2008 at 06:25:55 PM MST (User Info)

The plate came with the tower and is 3/16" thick with stubs for the tower legs to slide onto with holes to bolt through.   I just have the one bolt that holds the plate down but once the guys are set it can't go anywhere. And the steel at the front and back was just to keep things squared when I was setting it in the cement. Ken [ Parent ]

Re: Question on three sided tower tilt over base (3.00 / 0) (#6) by elt on Mon Aug 4th, 2008 at 06:58:14 AM MST (User Info)

Thanks ken, I really appreciate the data.  - Ed. [ Parent ]

Re: Question on three sided tower tilt over base (3.00 / 0) (#3) by dynaman on Sat Aug 2nd, 2008 at 10:48:16 AM MST (User Info)

Here is  shot of the hinge I made for my tower. It works quite well. The only downfall of the three sided tower is that because there are only three anchor points the back guylines go slack as the tower goes down therefore there is a potential for the tower to exert tremendous twisting  force on the hinge should it catch a breeze or such. I install temporary guys inline with the hinge when I am going to lower the tower so that the tower cannot swing and damage the hinge.

Re: Question on three sided tower tilt over base (3.00 / 0) (#4) by elt on Sat Aug 2nd, 2008 at 01:57:19 PM MST (User Info)

Thanks dynaman, I saw your 12' project in your diary... very nice! Do you clamp the two sections of your hinge together or just let the guy wires hold it in place? What's the diameter of the rod you use as the hinge pin? > there is a potential for the tower to exert tremendous twisting force on the hinge I thought of that; I think that having a rigid separator between the two legs being hinged make a lot of sense but the manufactures tilt up base (for my tower) is very minimalistic. Here's a pic from the catalog - While that design leaves me a little uneasy, I'm still wondering if there's a benefit of support the third (non-hinged) side of the tower during tilt up. > I install temporary guys inline with the hinge Hm... since three complete sets of guy wires are cheaper than four, makes me wonder why folks with the pipe towers don't use three sets? Thanks again,  - Ed. [ Parent ]

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