Just reading of someone else's experience with winch cable breaking,
I thought I should add my own experience.
In Australia it is impossible to get towers with motorised winches as
far as I can tell. Winching my tower up a couple of weeks ago (by
hand), I had almost got the top section up to the point where the
catch plate engages the base of that section when the galvanised
steel winch cable snapped. I was lucky that the catch plate caught
on the tower lacing so it dropped only about 2 inches.
The manufacturer came the two hours drive from Melbourne and brought
stainless steel cable as there was no way I could climb the tower to
remove fittings etc. and install the new cable.
The new cable costs $3 Australian (about $2 U.S.) per metre so for
such a small increase over the galvanised stuff, why not use it all
the time? According to the manufacturer (Nally Towers) customers
won't pay the extra. Incredible, to me.
I overlook the Bass Strait along the southernmost point of the
Australian mainland and I've never seen corrosion occur so quickly as
it does here.
Penny pinching to get a sale is inexcusable when you consider the
consequential costs not to mention possible injuries that arise from
failure. And, yes, Nally Towers tell me >after< the event, that
cables should be replaced after every 3 or 4 years - the galvanised
ones of course. Now they tell me.....!
Morrison, VK3BCY
.
,--_|\ Morrison Hoyle - vk3bcy@dcsi.net.au
/ Oz \ - Phone +61 (0)3 56891205
\_,--\_/ - PO Box 248, FOSTER, Vic 3960 Australia
v
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