Hi Dan, and thanks for all the comments. I still disagree on the springs, Remember, they are very heavy duty. They keep the 5/16 cable so tight you can play a tune on them. Also the safty cable that runs thru the spring goes from the anchor to the cable, bypassing the spring and the turnbuckel. Yes there is some slack in the safty cable, but no more than a inch. I just like the idea that the 4 cables stay very tight all the time while raising and lowering, and you dont have to adjust the turnbuckles.
As far as the concrete goes, I have more than enough to hold the tower, My trade was a project supt. on heavy construction, I have formed and poured millions of yards. Anyway, the winch anchor is poured in a 8 foot deep by 4 foot dia. tank that has a wall thickness of 3/4 inch. The other 3 anchors are reinforced piers with a 6X6 foot spread footing down 5 foot. I can see why your concerned, due to only seeing the top of the piers.
Yes, I understand your concern also about the winch. Thats why I was so worried, and built it to go slow. the gear reducer I added is a worm gear reducer.I was also concerned about the 5/16 cable I had to use, being that the drum was not big enough to take that many feet of 3/8 cable. I do have 3/8 cable from the gin pole tho.
Yes, you are correct in saying the top guys are the ones that really count. the intermedite ones will support the flexing of the tower, that is why I didnt think the long sleeves are neccessary.
I have raised and lowered the tower empty, but am about to lower it with the turbine on it. Something I didnt show, was a counter weight of 400 lbs that is attached to the top of the gin pole, and can be raised and lowered by a hand winch at the bottom of the gin pole. When the tower gets down to about 60 degrees, the winch starts going up and can be adjusted by the hand winch as the tower continues down. The counter weight stays back near the winch.
Now if you remember, I have a 2 RPM 760 to 1 ratio motor that locks the tower to the turbine to hold it in the wind or out of it. I am very happy with that. If I want to shut it down in a high wind, I can turn the turbine out of the wind, and than short it out.
I saw 40 amps in a 10 mile wind at 75 RPM at 48 volts, the short time I let it go.ITs the 12 foot unguyed area at the top that worrys me, that is why Im bringing it down to beef that up, and also to take the tail off. I dont need a flat vertical tail. Im going to put a fiberglass resin tank out of a softerner on a longer 1&1/8" dia solid rnd stock. The shaft runs all the way thu the tank, and I will beable to balance the tail to the turbine by placing sand in the resin tank untell the weight is even.
The other thing I worry about, is the size of the spindle with all that weight, I wish I would have found a spindle out of a big truck or something like it.
I also believe that the weight of the props is a big reason why you can get high amps in low winds, so I can live with stall. And of course they need to be perfectly balanced