Finally getting around to posting the pics... Sorry just wanted to do them all at once... So here they are.. (Bare with me this may take a couple posts to get all the photos in)..



This was on day 1 after getting the steel... I put dad to work with the grinder since he needs things he can sit to work on projects..



Drilled holes for the plug welds to come later



Was trying to show the beveled edges here but the pic didnt show it to well...



In goes the sleeve for the base...



for the base the Sleeve is flush with the bottom...



can see the sleeve hiding inside the plug weld holes



before i could weld the sleeve in place i needed to burn off the remainder of the drill oil i was using...





just some shots of the plug welds filled in... and the other end of the pipe waiting for its joint sleeve




since it was the bottom of the pole i fully welded the sleeve into the outer pipe...



Sleeve goes into the other end of the pipe for the 2nd joint to slide onto...





just some more plug weld shots...





Smoothed out the plug welds...



And the stud welded to the top of the pole for the topper...


Think thats the max for this post... next post to come with more pics... be patient.. im going as fast as my connection allows...

 

Alright here's part 2..





so here im inserting the bolt sleeves for the poles mounting in the base pole... gives it more strength just like the sleeves do in your bushings... also keeps the pole from cutting through the bolts...




Now we weld them into place so they cant slip out.. and the bottom was welded shut as well to keep the elements out..




and the excess is cut off with the welds ground flush...



and here we see the first 2 sections joined together... the gap was left intentionally so that i could hit the inner pipe and the outer pipes at the same time...



and youll notice the spot weld holes are not lined up with the other pipes spot weld holes... this was also done intentionally...




needed some help from the tractor to get the pipes finely tuned to level.. for welding...




Spot welds filled in and the seam weld done as well...



Pole Section #3 going on



I was just trying to get a good shot of the tractor in this pic...



and the last sections welded on while i put dad back to work with the grinder again to smooth out the welds...




I did try to keep him in the shade as much as possible... but i can only weld in certain area due to the plug connection location on the house lol..

End of part 2... Part 3 coming soon...

 

Part 3.... Im getting there....

Now we have the Pulley mount for the top of the pole...





unfortunately i forgot to take pics of it welded to the top of the pole... ohh well.. I did the little side plate to keep the pulley from flexing left to right... itll be bolted on both the sides and the bottom...

Now that the poles finished time for the base plate...



This will be for the mounting base



and 6 identical holes drilled in 2 pieces tack welded together for the side supports...



When we bolted the plates to the sides of the pole we found that despite being welded and drilled together that when it was attached to the pole they were not "true"... so we had to add these feet to the base of the plates to true it back up...



ended up using my stick welder for deeper penetration for added strength.. wasnt sure my mig welder would dig deep enough.. so theyre not as pretty as they would be with the mig..



welded the back side as well...




and the cover passes over the multi-pass weld to tie them all together...



Then welded them to the base plate...




These plates served 2 purposes... kept the plates spaced evenly and was also to keep the pole from continuing and flopping over once the pole was stood up... would act like a stop brace as well on the windy days...


End of part 3... Part 4 coming soon

 

Part 4... We are getting there folks... Trust me...



Additional bracing for side to side whippage





and more for the front to back whippage... 33lbs of steel and filler to make it strong as can be..




base painted and sitting in the form to set the bolt heights for the concrete to be poured



The rebar there is sunk into the giant boulder under ground... we drilled down as far as the bit would go and never hit the bottom of the boulder so its gotta be pretty massive...



that mig welder is dads... i dont particularly care for it but it gets the job done sometimes... mines bigger but not as portable...




my little rebuilt trailer behind the go cart carrying the concrete...



got to use my new cement mixer YAY!!! lol



all the concrete for the job... only ended up using 6 bags..



i let dad do the smoothing of the pad...




when we removed the forms we discovered some of the rebar being exposed so i took some concrete patch to cover over the exposed rebar to seal it in.. also those 2 corners had apparently settled so they were lower than the rest of the pad... and i leveled them back out...






base plates bolted down to the pad and made level..



there was actually a weed that got stuck where that cracks at.. that later got pulled out...



here comes the pole with the tractor doing the heavy lifting..




dad originally tried to pull it up with his tractor but it kept getting the wheels pulled up off the ground... didnt matter if he used the backhoe or the front loader.. both lifted the opposites tires when he tried to pull it up...




then we tried with the truck and its 12000lb winch... but no success.... when i tried with the truck just as it started to lift the tow rope snapped... 2 more tries and 2 more snaps... we tried once more with a beefier rope that was rated to 10,000 lbs but it couldnt get a bite on the pole for some reason... after that we were beat.... so right now its sitting on the ground waiting for another try...

 

Shawn, if you could get the top of the pole up as high as you can, I think it would help.

Nice job. You should always be able to find a job as a fabricator.

I noticed the breaker box on the outside of the house. Wonder why that is. I've seen lots of breaker boxes outside the house in NC and VA.

 

distance... one of the boxes is the meter box.. right next to it is the sub panel with the breaker box further inside the house... the only breakers that are in the outside box are the monster ones for like the AC/heat pumps... all the others are on the inside box... for as close as the one inside is they shouldnt have needed both.. but what annoys me with that outside box is they cut the contact posts sort so we couldnt had more breakers to it... the box inside is full and with the wall finished we cant really put in a bigger box inside which is another annoyance for me... to replace the outside one we would have to pull the meter...


i think we are going to end up shortening the pole a bit to make it easier. if we do it right we can make another pole to stand next to that one for my sports team flag and whatnot...

 

Nice job on that pole...

 

ty.... i know one of these days i need to pull the axle shafts so i can adjust the parking brakes... if i put the truck in neutral and set the parking brake it just rolls... so i need to fix that...when i use the winch i need to put a 4x4 behind the tires and put it in 4x4... the winch just drags the truck around lol...

 

Looks good Shaun! Looking forward to seeing it upright !

Thanks for sharing!

 

Shawn I'd try raising the top with the tractor right, once it's up as high as it can go, pull it with the truck. I wouldn't even mess with the winch, Once you have it up a ways, you should be able finish pushing it with the tractor. Or you know, just get a bigger tractor!

 

dad was lifting it with the front loader while i was pulling it with the winch... first time with the winch just as it started to lift it was when the strap snapped... shot the cable under the truck tieing it into a pretzel... (that was fun untangling)... broke the smaller strap 2 more times... which that strap was rated to 2000 lbs when it was new... the larger strap i have is 10,000lb that we used to move a building on the property with... problem with that strap was it wouldnt bite onto the pole... just kept slipping down....

 

Sail boaters have to deal with this problem every time they step (raise) the mast. They either use a long pole, or an a-frame to get the initial pull angle to be more vertical. If you have a long pole you could stake it on either side.

Photo courtesy Southwest Wind Power

 

You need that strap that Ford used to pull the 1.25 million lb train with an electric F150...

 

I like that.

 

I like that as well actually. I was just coming here to mention something like that, though I was thinking a shorter block, but that diagram really shows it well. Won't even need to get a strap that bites particularly well. I assume the tractor can get the pole, top of it, at least 6 to 10 feet off the ground. Oh and to get a little more on it, lift it, place the end on a saw horse or tailgate, then re-position the tractor to raise it higher, and finally pull with the truck using the leverage bar.