Towertalk
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [TowerTalk] PHOTO LINK: Desired play (gap) between steel tube leg an

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] PHOTO LINK: Desired play (gap) between steel tube leg and sleeve
From: "Leonard Els" <leonard@cs.ukzn.ac.za>
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:10:51 +0200
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
Thanks Jim

Refer to attached link of pic I managed to obtain before it was taken
down.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35830322@N08/3308268909/

I am trying to determine what the ideal clearance between leg and sleeve
should be when fitted together.  Are we talking one thou?  1/32"?  What
are the default tolerances of similar tower design sections?

CrazyHorse



-----Original Message-----
From: jim Jarvis [mailto:jimjarvis@optonline.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 1:23 PM
To: Leonard Els; towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: Desired play (gap) between steel tube leg and sleeve


Crazyhorse:

Interesting pic.   I've SEEN this before, somewhere, but I'm not  
bringing up a name.
Recommend you re-post to the reflector, with a link to that pic.    
Someone will know what it is.

Guys:  Crazy has what seems to be a 25g knockoff, which uses external  
sleeves to join
sections, rather than swaging.   Sleeves are welded to the tower  
legs, such that the bottom
of each section fits over the top of the one below.   (except in his  
case, they don't fit very well.)
Anybody know who might have made this?   It has cross bracing design  
like 25g.

Back to the original problem... you're trying to assemble some stuff  
that won't go
together.   Suggest we focus on that.

There are two basic problems,  crud in the sleeves, and mis-alignment  
of legs.
To separate the two,  you could use a piece of leg, and test-fit it  
in each sleeve.
If there's only dirt and gunk in there, the tube may be enough to  
clean things out.
If not, a rat-tail file gently applied around the inner part of the  
sleeve should clean it
out enough to allow the tube to fit.

Then there's leg alignment.   Once you know that each sleeve is  
clean, legs can
sometimes be bent slightly out of column.   A tower-jack multipurpose  
tool has a
leg-straightening fixture on it.   Or, you can use that short piece  
of leg as a lever to
pull an errant leg in or out, appropriately.    It would pay to test- 
fit all sections, on the
ground, rather than discover a mis-alignment in the air, and have to  
wrestle with it
aloft.

Don't forget to use grease on all legs, before assembly.   Not only  
improves things
going in--they come OUT a whole lot easier, when the tower gets taken  
down.

It MAY be old grease in those sleeves, too.   In which case, use of a  
leg piece or similar
pipe will clean things out.

N2EA


_______________________________________________



_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>