[TowerTalk] Gin Poles

[Gary Jones]

The truth of the matter is that there is $200.00 worth of metal in the Rohn
gin pole. However, if you do it right (in building it yourself), it is going
to cost a lot more than that for the professional machining and fabrication
work to get one made locally right. When I first began tower work 30 years
ago, I built a gin pole from a heavy wall piece of aluminum pipe, u-bolts,
and a heavy farm pulley simply hooked over the top of the pipe. My first
version did not stand off the leg of the tower because it was u-bolted to
the tower leg. The pulley did not stand off the top of the pole either since
it was simply hooked over the top. What I discovered was that it was very
difficult to attach the gin pole quickly onto the tower and it was a maybe
15 minute job to get it attached, get the bolts torque down and ready to go,
and then I discovered that because there was no clearance between pole and
tower leg, that it was nearly impossible to get the new tower leg to slide
over the top of the lower tower section (the gin pole was clamped to). It
could be done, but it was time consuming. And it was impossible to get any
screws through the legs to bolt down the new section. Then it would take 20
minutes to disconnect the gin pole, hang it off the side of the tower, place
the tower leg bolts, and move it up to the next level. Finally, I ran into a
situation where there was a lot of side torque on my home brew gin pole, and
I bent the heavy duty EMT off to about a 45 degree angle before I got the
situation under control. The next week, I purchased a commercial gin pole. I
considered it a “life investment: (I would use it for the rest of my life).
The single biggest factor with my commercial gin pole is that I can slap it
into position in 30” and it holds itself while I torque down the wing nut
bolts  and it is ready to use in less than a minutes (and can be done with
one hand)…. When you are up 120 feet, that means a lot. 

 

The Rohn gin pole is very expensive, but worth it. Ten – Ten Corporation (I
can’t remember their logo X-II? or something) makes a kit that is good if
you can find the right quality of tubing to put between the clamp and the
pully assembly. 

 

              Gary      W5FI 

 

 

 

 


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