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Re: [TowerTalk] Brake Winches

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Brake Winches
From: "Roger (K8RI) on TT" <K8RI-on-TowerTalk@tm.net>
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2015 23:38:04 -0400
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
The typical powered extensions and tilts supplied with towers that I've seen, use multiple belt and pulley speed reductions so the typical 1700 RPM motor is lightly loaded with temperature not a problem. There are many I've not seen, but it's an inexpensive way to make tilt and extension easy so I'd expect the method to be quite common.

They remind me of our first self propelled lawn mower. One day my father took one of our reel type push mowers to the welding shop. What he brought home would have made Rube Goldberg proud...and it worked. It had a wood platform above the mower on which a kick start washing machine motor was mounted. How many on here have seen a washing machine powered by a gas engine? 2-cycle with a governor on the ignition had a unique sound. There were IIRC 3 parallel shafts connected with a series of small to large pulley speed reductions. A few years later Western Auto came out with a 2-cycle powered lawn mower with a 14 or 16" blade. I think the blade tips were near supersonic. It would chop up a piece of wire and spit the pieces out like bullets!

At any rate, back to speed reducers. The belt and pulley speed reducers (torque multipliers) have been around for decades since when electric motors were inefficient and expensive for the day. They are cheap, efficient, work well, easy to adjust, and are easy to maintain. My neighbor's motorized crank up runs effortlessly, albeit slow, using a conventional size electric motor rather than the tiny ones we are used to seeing. Using a full size motor with no time limit at their full load ratings. Silent, quiet, dependable, and inexpensive. Plus they only require enough space for cooling by the surrounding air. Price from the tower manufacturer too high? Look around. Nearly every hardware store and big box store has them, usually at very reasonable prices, but be careful of undersize imports.

73

Roger (K8RI)


On 6/30/2015 8:35 AM, Patrick Greenlee wrote:
As my on-order-but- not-delivered-yet new Tashjian tower has 2 each 1/2 HP motors, one for extend and power retract and the other for tilt, I don't worry too much about manual cranking. I don't recall the gear reduction ratio but it was substantial, sufficient that I'd not want to have to crank it and crank it... manually. No one mentioned anything about an option for cooling fans or cooling coils for the winches. ;) ;)

Patrick NJ5G


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