Hi Mike,
Here's how I did mine. First, be sure that the rebar sits up off the soil. Use
bricks or commercially available stand-offs for this. Home Depot has them. I
didn't have a template for my used Telex tower so I made one from 1/2" plywood.
I
ran the foundation bolts thru the template with a nut on each side, allowing
lot's
of thread for level adjustment, then spaced the template over the perimeter form
using 1x2's, leveled and positioned it and then poured the concrete. Once dry,
remove the template and your ready to mount your base plate. This arrangement
allows full axis leveling of my base assembly, which I also had to build from
scratch. Also, don't be temped to put your grounding rods through the base. I
was originally planning to do this and found out that a lightening strike would
cause the concrete to explode, causing the tower to fall, etc.... You have a
few
choices on concrete since your base is relatively small, just over a cubic yard.
One would be to have a concrete company come out and pour, but most have a
minimum
so you'd need to piggy-back on some one else pour. In my case. I used one of
the
local rental yards that sells 1 cubic yard at a time in trailers that you tow
home. It worked quite well for me since I'm close to the rental yard. I did
have
to wheelbarrow it into the backyard though. The place where I got mine sells an
extra strong mix for a few bucks more, which I opted for. I'd avoid using the
90
lb bags of redimix. First of all it'd take a whole bunch, second it'd darn near
kill you mixing them all, and third I don't think that stuff is all that strong.
Oh, one more thing. I couldn't find foundation bolts that suited me in terms of
length, so I took them to the local welder and had 18" of rebar welded to them
with a 90 degree bend 6" from the bottom. That gave me lot's of penetration
into
the concrete and I snaked the bend under one run of rebar and wired them to the
rebar. I suspect I'll pull the entire block of concrete out of the ground
before
the bolts over come out. I hope my descriptons were meaningful. It makes
sense
to me but then again I was there so maybe I'm making some assumptions that
aren't
that clear. I'd be happy to mail some drawings if it's be of help.
73's and good luck. Enjoy your tower raising.
Jim
WB6YAW
MBecker@aol.com wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm about to start digging for the base of a new tower. It's the US Tower
> MA-40 telescoping tower and the base is 3' X 3' X 4'. I would appreciate any
> help or pointers regarding installing the rebar cage, pouring the concrete and
> getting the anchor screws set right. I know a template comes with the tower
> but I really want to make sure that I do this right the first time. Any
> comments would be appreciated. Thanks.
>
> 73
> Mike
> KT3U
>
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