On 10/2/2013 7:36 AM, Bill Winkis (KC4PE) wrote:
Getting up in years and I need to find a better "Mouse Trap"
The LM-470D has a tilting frame which lets the tower tilt from
Horizontal/Vertical via a Winch .... the tower comes with a Fulton KX1550,
which is hard to crank when loaded with the tower and not the safest item in
the world, it was suggested that I try a 50:1 worm gear the Fulton
KWS-3000, so I installed such.
Yesterday my first time out with the 3000 was a disaster. Now as the bottom
of the tower left the vertical position the winch got increasing harder to
turn, to the point where I could barely turn the handle.
I examined the plant for binds etc., but could see nothing wrong, BUT when
the tower was finally Horizontal I noted the worm drive gear was offset,
looks like the frame was bent (that holds the worm gear in place)....
Question:
Has anybody used the 3000 with success on a LM70?
Should I consider going to a "GinPole" arrangement, mount some 10 feet off
the ground and grabbing the tower at the top of the first section?
Ideally I would like a motorized system of such..
Idea's???
I would assume the frame was bent before you lowered the tower which was
retracted. Lots of grease on the worm?
Mine (rough measurements) is 7' to the hinge, 5' to the raising/lowering
pulley, the pulley for tilt over is very close to the bottom of the
tower. The nested tower is about 24'6" feet with the base about 6" off
the concrete and IIRC the tower part is about 1000#. Manual says 1148
and that does not include the raising fixture.
The hinge point is about 6'6" off the base. With the 24'6" tower and
progressively smaller sections I'd estimate the balance point to be
about 8' from the bottom or 2 to 2 1/2 feet above the hinge point.
It was not terribly difficult to lower with the single stage winch.
I'm likely to replace it with one of the winches I have here which have
a much higher gear ratio, particularly with a large tribander on it.
It shouldn't turn that hard. Actually as the tower tilts I would expect
the force to reduce. You shouldn't have to force it down. Normally I'd
expect to have to hold it back as with the spur geared 1550.
Sounds like a defective winch.
We don't expect defective parts, but I had to replace the inner gear
door on a Bonanza (airplane). Makes ham parts look cheap. The hinges
were sold separately as in each half @ $500 each so 2 complete hinges =
$2,000 for stamped aluminum hinges that you'd estimate to be about
$20.. 3 of the 4 as delivered were bent so bad they were unusable and
beyond repair. BTW The door was only $450. The replacement was due to
hitting a whitetail deer while landing after dark at Gladwin MI. She
decided she needed to be on the other side of the runway just as I was
setting down, That left me riding only on the left main, seeing the
runway lights ABOVE the port (left) side tip tank, meaning the bottom of
the gas tank was only 2 or 3 inches off the runway, and not knowing if
I had a right main or nose gear. Fortunately I did, but no brakes on
the starboard side. Thank goodness for good insurance. They even paid
for the gas in the tank. Oh yah! The impact ruptured the right main tank.
73
Roger (K8RI)
-Bill ... KC4PE
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|