[TowerTalk] Fwd: Regarding Worm Gear Drive Winches

[hanslg at aol.com]

Hi Brad,

The good thing is that possibly the gear will not allow the tower?for a?fast "down-launch". The sad thing is that the gear gets "better" (easier to drive) as it?gets used so even if it works good without breaks in the beginning you will find that it may not be selfbreaking after some time.

Hans, N2JFS


-----Original Message-----
From: Brad Pioveson W9FX <w9fx at verizon.net>
To: towertalk reflector <towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Sun, Jul 19, 2009 10:22 pm
Subject: [TowerTalk] Regarding Worm Gear Drive Winches



Here's a question for the ME's.  Can a worm gear drive winch without a brake 
system safely be used on a telescoping tower - which tower does not have a 
latching mechanism to support the tower in the extended position?

In other words, can a worm gear drive winch be reverse driven such that the 
tower can fall in the absence of a braking mechanism?

I have a TriEx W-51 tower that came from the factory equipped with a worm gear 
drive winch.  When I received the tower, the winch handle was missing.  If I do 
not replace the handle, I can likely drive the tower up and down using a 1/2" 
low speed rt angle electric drill.  If, however, the handle needs to be there 
and if said handle needs to be locked in place to prevent self-unspooling of the 
cable, then I had best find a handle...

73

Brad, W9FX
_______________________________________________



_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk