[TowerTalk] clarification on using a 1/2" drill to turn k2550 winch

[Al Williams]

My tower is the LM470 motorized so my use of the electric drill has been for tilting the tower up and down.

The drill is labeled HEAVY DUTY MILWAUKEE with further labeling of Hammer Drill Cat #5378-02. It also is labeled 1350/3200 RPM which I think corresponds to a switch that can be placed on "1" or "2" meaning 1350 or 3200 RPM?

The actual rpm depends on how far back the trigger is pulled. It starts out very slow maybe 1 revolution in a second or two and speeds up as the trigger is pulled further back. I don't have any idea of the torque but do know that one should have a firm grip on the handles (2) and have ones body well balanced to resist being spun around!!!  The torque required of the drill on the tilt over use is quite high when the tower is laid over below about 45 degrees.

I do not have to consider that the nut will be turned to loosen as the winch assembly has a head on the bolt and I just have to go to the other side of the bolt/winch to turn it cw or ccw.

I have not had to take off the handle because I have used an extension on the socket to get the
drill far enough away so that the winch handle is not a problem. For use where there is no bolt head, I would suggest shopping around to get nuts that have the correct thread size but are thin enough for two to thread on (and lock together) when the handle is removed. One might also have to shop a bit to get two bolts of different outward size so that the socket can go over the outer nut but that is probably not necessary if the two nuts are highly tightened.

I modified the LM470 tilting pulley arrangement by adding an extra pulley on both ends to get the extra pulley's mechanical advantage. This requires running the drill longer and so it is easy to lose patience and run the drill faster but that may heat up the winches clutch so I stop every so often in case it is warming up.

k7puc