Hi Paul...
Help me understand here (I knew my statement would somehow get me in
touble)...
There's one wire which comes off the winch wound clockwise, another would
counterclockwise. Obviously they work reciprocally.
I had an event a few years ago, where, due to excess slack on one of the
cables, it slipped off the pulley on the upper section and got bound between
the "axle" of the pulley and the pulley mounting hardware on the top
section. It stretched and broke. The tower remained standing. Luckily I was
aware that some failure had occured and by inspection from the ground was
able to determine what had happened. Slowly, carefully, I was able to to
lower the tower without further incident.
The cables were repaired and replaced (I am using heavier duty EHS cable),
and all seems well again, altho I still have troubles keeping a good balance
between the winch cables "too tight" or "too much slack". The
spring/turnbuckle assembly does not seem to have the range of adjustment to
avoid one side of the winch from getting too much slack.
So my question...what happened in my case which gives me the impression of
redundancy?
And the bonus question, do you have a suggestion as to how to pull in the
slack off the winch? (The manual's narrative is not adequate. I talked to
one of the guys at Tash who suggested putting a cbale grip + come-along on
the slack cable and pulling and extra loop onto the winch, but I have never
figured out where to connect the come-along or how to make my cable grip
hold onto the cable...what with the thimble and other hardware covering the
end of the cable).
Appreciate your comments.
73
Dan
K0DAN
PS Mine's an LM470D
----- Original Message -----
From: <paul@w8aef.com>
To: "k0dan" <k0dan@comcast.net>; "Pat Barthelow" <aa6eg@hotmail.com>;
<towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 12:40 AM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Lift cable, Galv Steel, vs Stainless
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "k0dan" <k0dan@comcast.net>
> To: "Pat Barthelow" <aa6eg@hotmail.com>; <towertalk@contesting.com>
> Sent: Monday, October 03, 2005 2:54 AM
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Lift cable, Galv Steel, vs Stainless
>
>
> > Pat:
> >
> > I can't address the M.E. issues you bring up, but is the engineer in
> > question aware that the Tri-Ex LM series uses redundant cables?
> >
> > That is, there is a pull-up and a pull-down cable, but if one were to
> > break,
> > the other one still does hold up the structure, and will raise/lower it
> > for
> > emergency purposes? (I know, I have had one cable fail...came off pulley
> > and
> > got pinched/broke, and I was still able to safely control the tower.)
>
> Not true my LM470. There are two pull UP cables on each side of the upper
> sections. Only one pull up cable for the 2nd section from the bottom.
The
> upper cables are not redundant but are arranged such that the sections
float
> on them, that is they do not push against one or the other side of the
tower
> as would be the case if there were only one cable.
>
> Further, the upper cables are only 3/16" diameter.
>
> And I would never trust just one cable to pull up my tower. If I did have
a
> cable break the plug would be pulled on the up/down motor until all of the
> cables were replaced.
>
> And the pull-down cable is just that, for pulling down.
>
> de Paul, W8AEF
>
>
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
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