[TowerTalk] Calculations

[Jim Lux]

It's quite difficult for a manufacturer to roll this into their cost of
business.

First, the price of the tower would go up by the amount it costs so it would
be a no net change to you. Most industrial processes (like making
towers)don't have an extra 10% profit sitting around... I'll bet that the
tower mfrs profit is right around 10-15% of gross, which is typical of many,
many businesses).

More troubling is that the mfr would need to have a crew of 50+ engineers on
call to stamp drawings for each state as appropriate.  Those of you who live
in areas where stamped and sealed drawings aren't needed would certainly
squawk at the mfr adding this to the cost (or, more likely, would change to
a mfr that didn't do it).

What the mfr DOES do is have a package of all the drawings and related
calculations put together so that if you DO need a licensed engineer in a
particular area, that engineer can review the drawings fairly quickly at a
reasonable cost.  I used to work with theatrical trussing a lot, and
virtually all mfrs have a package of all the calcs for each section of
trussing, and predone calculations for various common configurations.  We'd
get the package in, the local PE would review our calculations for our
particular configuration of the truss as well as the mfrs supporting
documentation, and would write a short report and seal it.

On the other hand, if you live somewhere where you're putting that tower up
down on the lower 40, and if it falls down, all that's going to happen is
your corn crop will be slightly smaller, and your local building code
accomodates it, then you don't need any calculations. You can throw that
package of documents and calcs in the trash or use it to start a fire, or
whatever.  In any case, neither you nor the mfr has spent any extra money
for something you don't need.

One comment... If the mfr is asking hundreds of dollars for just the package
of design drawings and calculations, then you've got something to gripe
about.

Jim, W6RMK

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Urich" <ka5cvh at gmail.com>
To: "Tower" <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2004 5:41 AM
Subject: Fwd: [TowerTalk] Calculations


> On Sun, 12 Sep 2004 03:58:21 EDT, warrenwolff at aol.com
> <warrenwolff at aol.com> wrote:
>
> > And once a fellow gets a set of 90 MPH calculations for $250  or so,
why, o'
> > why should any future sales of the same calculations cost the  next
fellow the
> > same $250?  The non-recurring cost should be minimal;  right?
>
> Mike wrote
> Personally I think the mfg should eat it as part of the cost of doing
business.
>
> --
> Mike Urich, KA5CVH
> http://ka5cvh.com
>
> Character = How you treat people who can do nothing for you in return!
>
>
>
>
> --
> Mike Urich, KA5CVH
> http://ka5cvh.com
>
> Character = How you treat people who can do nothing for you in return!
> _______________________________________________
>
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Weather Stations", and lot's more.  Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any
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>
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