Idea for a home-made tilting tower

[valterra]

Hey guys, I got the permit to build a 10' genny next to my house.  It'll sit about 10 feet above my house (about 30 feet in the air).  It's the best location considering the circumstances, and there's actually quite a bit of wind at that level.

I've been trying to scrounge up an old (water pumping type) Windmill tower, but I got to thinking about how big its footprint would have to be.

I came up with this idea of a tower using 6 x 6's or some kind of similar square lumber.  Of course, this is an exploded view.  The two outer pieces are cemented into the ground.  The middle piece fits snugly between the outer ones.  That keeps it from rotating.  Also supporting it would be 3 large bolts or metal rods of some type.  I chose 3 because you could space them out over several feet.

The main advantage of this type of system would be that, if you remove 2 of the rods, I would have a pivot point that I could use to lean the middle piece against the roof of the house for maintenance.  Also, depending on the weight of the finished mill, I could easily mount it to the top of the middle board.  A 6 x 6 square wood platform should be big enough for a large floor flange or similar to support a vertical pole for mounting.

I'm pretty sure that I'm not doing anything unusual here.  Something tells me that I've seen this concept before.

What do you guys think?

[wooferhound]

somebody on here did this design on a large scale using telephone poles.

[kurt]

i have seen a tilt up tower done like that with telephone poles with a counterweight on the short side of the tilting section to help in tilting up and down but it was still guyed once tilted up..... do a Google search of tho board for telephone pole tower....

[richhagen]

FrankG from "www.theworkshop.ca" had posted a photo of one like that in the past here, and I had seen photos of pole mounted ones before that, although in all cases I saw the swept area was less than 10 feet in diameter if I recall correctly.  Rich

[richhagen]

I would point out that a 30 foot unguyed tower makes for a large lever, the tower base would have to be substantial I would think, also 30 feet is a lot of gravitational potential energy for 200 pounds of material should it come loose above your house or car.  I happen to know that even a small wind turbine at 25 feet can put parts through a car windshield.  Rich

[valterra]

yeah, good point.  They make those approx 6x6 lumber pieces in 25 foot + lengths.  If anything, I should root one of those in cement, and then put a smaller tilting mechanism in top - that is if I'm sold on the tilting idea.  If it was just a single pole, that'd be okay too.

[thefinis]

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2006/7/26/135141/023

Has the pics etc of the pole tower like what you are wanting to build.

Finis

[scorman]

I am a fan of tilt-over tower, but mine will be guyed.

Saw this free standing 65 footer in action:

The two 30 foot base pipes are 10 feet in the ground, so pivot point is 20 feet up.

It was counterbalanced at the base with a billet shoved inside the bottom 6" pipe.

A boat winch cranked it up and down in about three minutes ...my wife could handle it!

Also saw a guyed 60 foot Rohn lattice tower with similar tilting mechanism.

I have the engineering print and some pics if anyone is interested:

http://s145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/scorman1/Foldover%20tower/

Stew Corman from sunny Endicott

[valterra]

Thanks guys!  Those are exactly what I'm talking about - except I am finding that the square lumber is easier to come by.  But that's not a functional difference, except like I said, square ones would help prevent rotating.  Don't know how big of a deal that really would be.

[jmk]

 I was thinking of making one that way too before I made a regular one. I would make it out of metal. Wood will rot. You can get scrap steel for about the same price as a new 4 by 4. It will be stronger and last longer. Here is a post of another tower like you are speaking of. He put a lightening rod on his and it got hit.

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2006/2/26/21156/5171

[Jeff]

Pretty close to the new tower & tracking frame I'm putting up for my 45w H.F. panels.

Except...4x4 construction. Bottom two are just under 14ft, they were 16footers that had been cut off for something. Already have the holes dug 3ft. deep, and concrete to fill it in. Upper section is a 12ft. piece with 1/2inch stainless rod at 6ft. for tip-up. Bottom section has alternating 2x6 treated wood, or 2x2 angle iron cross pieces every 2ft. on back side only. Also have a 1/2inch thru hole in all 3 pieces- 6inches from the bottom of the upper section (I have another 1/2inch stainless rod to lock things in there). Guys, and other reinforcements are 2500# Kevlar courtesy of the old aerospace company I used to work for. I'll worry about counter weighting it once I get the frame & panels installed, and have an old hand-crank boat winch with about 12ft. of travel I'll use to tip up or down.

[mbeland]

Do any of these tower concepts allow to decrease the footprint of guy wires occupied by the tower? If so that is interesting, otherwise, the advantage I see over a regular tilt up with gin pole is reduced footprint in the fall zone.

Martin

[SparWeb]

The 10' mill is too big for what you propose as a tower.

Strength aside, it will sway all over the place.

Even with guy wires, the middle section will move from side to side in strong winds.

The bending moments applied by wind gusts and abrupt yawing (it's a big gyroscope) will snap 6" lumber.

[valterra]

Good point.  I think I'll have to use 1 solid pole.  They make them up to 25'.  Or I'll have to look into something completely different, like someone mentioned building one out of scrap steel.  Welding can't be THAT hard.  ;-)  Remind me that I said that when you visit me in the hospital.