[TowerTalk] Brake Winches

[Roger (K8RI) on TT]

The typical powered extensions and tilts supplied with towers that I've 
seen, use multiple belt and pulley speed reductions so the typical 1700 
RPM motor is lightly loaded with temperature not a problem. There are 
many I've not seen, but it's an inexpensive way to make tilt and 
extension easy so I'd expect the method to be quite common.

They remind me of our first self propelled lawn mower.  One day my 
father took one of our reel type push mowers to the welding shop. What 
he brought home would have made Rube Goldberg proud...and it worked.  It 
had a wood platform above the mower on which a kick start washing 
machine motor was mounted.  How many on here have seen a washing machine 
powered by a gas engine?   2-cycle with a governor on the ignition had a 
unique sound.  There were IIRC 3 parallel shafts connected with a series 
of small to large pulley speed reductions.  A few years later Western 
Auto came out with a 2-cycle powered lawn mower with a 14 or 16" blade.  
I think the blade tips were near supersonic.  It would chop up a piece 
of wire and spit the pieces out like bullets!

At any rate, back to speed reducers.  The belt and pulley speed reducers 
(torque multipliers) have been around for decades since when electric 
motors were inefficient and expensive for the day. They are cheap, 
efficient, work well, easy to adjust, and are easy to maintain.  My 
neighbor's motorized crank up runs effortlessly, albeit slow, using a 
conventional size electric motor rather than the tiny ones we are used 
to seeing.  Using a full size motor with no time limit at their full 
load ratings.  Silent, quiet, dependable, and inexpensive. Plus they 
only require enough space for cooling by the surrounding air.  Price 
from the tower manufacturer too high?  Look around. Nearly every 
hardware store and big box store has them, usually at very reasonable 
prices, but be careful of undersize imports.

73

Roger (K8RI)


On 6/30/2015 8:35 AM, Patrick Greenlee wrote:
> As my on-order-but- not-delivered-yet new Tashjian tower has 2 each 
> 1/2 HP motors, one for extend and power retract and the other for 
> tilt, I don't worry too much about manual cranking. I don't recall the 
> gear reduction ratio but it was substantial, sufficient that I'd not 
> want to have to crank it and crank it... manually.  No one mentioned 
> anything about an option for cooling fans or cooling coils for the 
> winches.  ;)  ;)
>
> Patrick     NJ5G 


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