Author Topic: My new tower and stuff (Read 2138 times)

SmoggyTurnip · « **on:** September 13, 2006, 12:56:17 AM »

I attached a 16 ft long piece of steel to my brothers tractor so we to use for moving the pipe around.

SmoggyTurnip · « **Reply #1 on:** September 12, 2006, 06:57:52 PM »

Borrowed some pipe stands to put the pipe on after it was lifted.

SmoggyTurnip · « **Reply #2 on:** September 12, 2006, 07:03:02 PM »

I dug a hole 3ft by 3ft by 4ft deep.

I made a hinge very similar to DanB's and set it in the hole.

I put 6 ft legs on the hinge so I drove them 2 feet into the ground.

Then I filled the hole with concrete.

I atached a 20 ft section of pipe to one side and a 10 ft section to the other.

Pulled the 10 ft section and the 20 ft section went up.

When the 10ft section was down I then welded 2 20 ft sections to it to make a 50 ft gin pole. I used the 20ft section to pull the 50ft up.

SmoggyTurnip · « **Reply #3 on:** September 12, 2006, 07:07:28 PM »

I pulled the 20 ft section out of the hinge and then welded it to 4 other 20 ft sections that were welded together before.

SmoggyTurnip · « **Reply #4 on:** September 12, 2006, 07:12:09 PM »

The 100 ft was then lifted and pullde with the tractor to put it into the hinge.

This was alot easier than I thought it would be.

harrie · « **Reply #5 on:** September 12, 2006, 07:59:45 PM »

Looks like you got it under controll, great job. I like the way you spliced the pipe joints for welding, it will surely be strong enough. IT looks like you will for sure have free wind with that one, thanks for sharing.

Great Fun, Harrie

Volvo farmer · « **Reply #6 on:** September 12, 2006, 08:10:56 PM »

Did you use that same 10" thinwall Pipe that Dan did? Do you mind telling us what a 20' section of that costs nowadays? I just found a 35' section of 3.5" schedule 40 at the junkyard for $70. I'm only planning on going up 50'-60' so thought this might be a good start. Those 10" towers look awfully tempting though.

DanB · « **Reply #7 on:** September 12, 2006, 09:42:57 PM »

Very neat. Where are you located? I hope you post details about everything else (your guy wires, the winch etc....)

electrondady1 · « **Reply #8 on:** September 12, 2006, 10:07:11 PM »

congats smoggy , you make it look easy!!

jmk · « **Reply #9 on:** September 13, 2006, 05:44:12 AM »

Nice job! Wow, a hundred feet, and it doesn't even look like you have anything over fourty feet tall around your site. Is that your house in the background? How long is your wire run going to be? what voltage are you going with?

SmoggyTurnip · « **Reply #10 on:** September 13, 2006, 11:10:17 AM »

That is my brothers house, mine is on the other side of it. The wire run is going to be 750 ft. The pipe thickness is .134 inches. There are some trees about 50 ft high about 100 ft on the north side of the tower.

Here it is going up. (That's another brother there watching.)

I made these sleevs out of 3/8" wall 10ID pipe that I got at the scrap yard. It is also what I used for the attaching the pipes to the hinge.

I had a problem with all my thimbles - I can't seem to get the guy wire tight around them. Any ideas? I used 3/8 wire for the top and 5/16 for the middle and bottom wires.

SmoggyTurnip · « **Reply #11 on:** September 13, 2006, 11:15:35 AM »

I like this view. As you can see I still have to fix up the connections a bit - cut off the excess wire and such.

This is what I will put on the top. Thanks to DanB for the Idea. 12" of 10 inch pipe and 2 ft of 3inch sched 40 pipe.

SmoggyTurnip · « **Reply #12 on:** September 13, 2006, 11:26:24 AM »

Opps this pic should have been attached to my last post.

Those are solar power lights that in case you are wondering. They look nice at night.

SmoggyTurnip · « **Reply #13 on:** September 13, 2006, 11:28:58 AM »

Well I can build a tower but I can't figure how to post pics and get them the right size! This happens way too often. I just don't have the time to sort it out - sorry.

Volvo farmer · « **Reply #14 on:** September 13, 2006, 03:05:01 PM »

Could you spread the thimble apart to make it touch the wire?

jmk · « **Reply #15 on:** September 13, 2006, 06:03:44 PM »

It's not good to sread the thimble open. Your cable looks like it's made of thick strands of wire. I just slid the wire clamp down after I got the nuts on, and tightened it. I bought galvenized clamps and I can see mine allready rusting in just a couple of months. It might be a good idea to paint the clamps. Wow! 3/8" wall must be heavy. How much does a 20' section weigh?

jmk · « **Reply #16 on:** September 13, 2006, 06:10:38 PM »

Oops, misread the post. The sleave is 3/8". I was thinking the pipe was.

jmk · « **Reply #17 on:** September 13, 2006, 06:31:16 PM »

How well did it go up? It pulled alot harder on mine when I put the machine on top. Like twice the pull. When do you think the machine will go up? Do you still have to trench the run wires yet? I didn't catch what your machine votage is. You must be High voltage? Its a tall one. It should be keeping your heaters going all the time. Nice work!

SmoggyTurnip · « **Reply #18 on:** September 14, 2006, 05:24:52 AM »

It went up very well. The tractor has to travel 211 feet to raise the tower. In the lowest gear it takes about 30 minutes to go up - very smooth. I'm sure I can go faster but I just want to be on the safe side untill I get used to it. I thought it might be creaky when raising it but it makes no sound at all. I was in total awe the first time it went up - it looks so huge. My brother and I watched it go up and we just looked at each other and said "We built that?". The trench has not been dug yet but I hope to have that done before the week is done.

Here is a pic of my turbine:

And blades go:

I just finished assembling it and thought I would give it a test run on the tractor. I forgot to put in the cottor pin that locks the nut on the main bearing.

The tractor turns the gennie counterclockwise so the nut came loose after only 5 seconds. The rotors crashed into the stator and did unrepairable damage. I am now in the process of rebuilding the stator.

I had lots of set backs on this project but when that happened it was the first time that I felt like giving up. That feeling only lasted about 2 minutes and then I decided to pull up my socks and build an even better stator.

SmoggyTurnip · « **Reply #19 on:** September 14, 2006, 05:29:18 AM »

Here is a good pic showing the strength of the pipe. The tractor is lifting the whole 100 ft pipe using the 16 ft spreader bar shown in the first pic of this thread. Each 20 ft section of pipe weighs 280 pounds.

Here is another pic of my alternator:

.

jmk · « **Reply #20 on:** September 14, 2006, 11:20:53 AM »

Your ten inch pipe is lighter than my three and a half inch pipe. My pipe weighs almost 400 lbs per 20' section. I had double blocks on each end and the first time it bounced a little bit. I sprayed the blocks real good with WD-40 and it went real smooth. I would think your pipe would be stronger than mine, but over time I would think my 7/16" wall will hold up longer.

I am sory to hear about your stater. What kind of power performance did you get out of it? What are you going to do to improve it? Wait til you get it up with the machine on top. Then you will be in ough for a couple of weeks if not longer. It would be a site to see! Keep on going, good luck, and keep us posted!

News:

Author Topic: My new tower and stuff (Read 2138 times)