Gin pole mounted to freestanding tower ideas for raising a jacobs?

[jenkinswt]

Okay well I've been busy on my jacobs wind generator, trying to get it up asap. I've gone through the generator and cleaned/ replaced anything necessary. I'm fiberglassing the blades and getting pretty close. I've also installed the 3 leg 48' tower 1 piece at a time! That was a chore but now I have the 5' stub tower, blades, tail, etc to get up in the air.

I don't really have anyone willing to climb up and help, and I don't really enjoy it myself! I'd like to assemble everything on the stub tower and crane it up and bolt together, rather than try to install the individual parts in the air. I'm going to price out a crane but doubt I can afford it right now. Plus I keep thinking, what if there's a problem with the generator and I need to crane it down later?

Now I know that's alot of rambling but I was hoping to hear from anyone that has done this, or if you have creative ideas? I found where a member on here "Shadow" raised his Jacob with something similar but he did it one piece at a time. I've seen the straight pipe with a pulley and a hand winch, but wouldn't the Jake drag against the tower with no arm at the top to hold it away?

I've wondered about using 60' of tv tower next to my tower and basically build a mini crane at the top, but this seems overkill and I wasn't sure how much weight could hang off of those towers. Really wishing I had a tilting tower.....

[Mary B]

Rig a ground pulley on a screw in anchor about 10' from the tower base and run a line from that to the base of your stub. Rig a loop on the generator that will ride that line to the top and when it reaches the stub unclip that line and finish raising it the last 5 feet where you can hold it away from everything. Here they are doing it with ground help but same basic principal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbQstIfnYh8

[jenkinswt]

That makes a lot of sense, as far as the ground anchor I could use a truck or a tractor, etc. Any particular size for a pipe at the top? I was thinking like 3" schedule 40 and I will have to come up with a winch with enough cable, etc.

[mbouwer]

Long time ago I made a tilting lattice mast. But it was not galvanized and therefore not maintenance-friendly.

[jenkinswt]

That's pretty neat, I saw something similar once. I also came across a neat 60' tower that pivoted in the middle and was designed for a 25 kW head. I wish I would have bought that and adapted my stub tower.

[SparWeb]

I've done a tilt-up truss-tower too.  That one is a DMX 40'.  Once finished, it's actually easier to deal with than a tubular pole because you don't have a guy wires all over the place.  Just the lift cables, which can be disconnected at ground level and stowed when finished.  The base needs a pivot for the gin pole.

The other way to do it, when the tower is up and you are building it piece by piece, is to use a bolt-on davit crane - but you probably did that for the other pieces already??

Assembling the whole turbine up that way is not for the faint of heart!  A current member of the site has done this recently and may have good advice to share.

[jenkinswt]

I'd like to say I used proper safety gear and equipment to install but....No! I held each piece and bolted it together. The worst part has been the corner legs that are about 14' I really should have rigged up something to hold them in place. I've looked at making or buying a crane like your talking about, I saw one on YouTube that a guy used for a water pumping head.

When I get the blades finished I am going to go ask a guy about 9 miles away that has a large crane what he'd charge to set this all on top and I think that will help me decide if its worth rigging anything myself or not. I'm stubborn but if I can afford an easy way out I'll take it. With a crane it should only take a few minutes once their setup.

As far as guy wires, it shouldn't need them and feels solid but we get pretty strong winds and no big trees close by. The base is 10' triangle and i could go out from each leg about 14' which isn't real wide but i'm wondering about running like a 5/16" cable in the middle and closer to the top just for piece of mind.

I will try to get a picture of it so far uploaded soon.

[mbouwer]

Sparweb,

What a beautiful place to live. I would like to get to know more people that are so free living
and work with them to exploit wind energy.

[jenkinswt]

Here's what I have so far. The shed, which is also a ongoing project in the background has 18' sidewalls and about 24-25' at the peak. That's where I plan to move my solar panels and all my electrical stuff then trench the electric from the shed to the house. I suppose I technically should be higher with the tower but I think it should work good. There's still the other 5' to go on there also.

[SparWeb]

Anyone can say your tower should be taller, but the truth is, just make it as tall as you can handle and no more.  They can be tricky to manage (building, lowering, maintaining) and as they get taller all of that just gets more difficult.  So don't apologize for the height of your tower - it's a good size already.

If I was to try to be critical of anything, I'd say there doesn't look like a lot of cross-bracing between the legs, so it's probably hard to climb.  If there's 4 feet between the horizontals, how do you climb it at all?
That could just be my bias speaking - compared to the DMX I have and am used to seeing every day.  If your tower legs are heavier then it's all good. 

A little more on the safety subject, having a buddy like your neighbour with the crane will help get lots of little things done right, like torquing bolts and locking carabiners.  Getting things done by myself, I catch myself rushing and even missing things.  Now I don't let myself do anything to the tower without making sure I have enough time to do it twice.  Having a second set of eyes with you could make more difference than anybody's opinion here might - if you get what I mean.

Looking forward to seeing your Jake on it!

[mbouwer]

Link for inspiration:
 
http://www.farmcollector.com/equipment/windmill-collection-zm0z16novzhur?newsletter=1&spot=cta&utm_source=wcemail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FCM%20GEM%20eNews%2010.31.17&utm_term=FCM_GEM_eNews&_wcsid=207B4FBFC6184D54D5EF3B17D188E12200A540C239A6ADB7

[jenkinswt]

I completely agree that a second set of eyes can notice something that you might assume is correct or that you think is finished. There are a few thing such as the guy wires that I am considering and also the very top straps aren't adjustable and a few seem a bit loose. I'm wondering if they are stretched or something and I might have to take them back off and make new ones, possibly adjustable so I can put some tension on them. The horizontal braces are 6.5' apart and yes it was difficult to climb/work. I made a few platforms, one was just a pallet strapped down:)

I didn't design the tower, it's original to the Jake. It's has flat corners on the legs which I suppose gives it a bit of a pipe like strength. I would prefer pipe and alot heavier but I keep telling myself it must have held up for a number of years the way it is.

I appreciate everyone's responses and do value the information this forum has. I'm hoping to get this done soon. I might have a few questions more on jacobs side of things, not sure if I should repost that in a new topic or not. Mostly on my planned method to hook it all up.

[jenkinswt]

That's a nice article mbouwer, thanks for the link.

[jenkinswt]

I have a crane lined up, I just need to finish the fiberglass on the blades and get them painted. I'm getting a good deal on the crane. It will probably be a few weeks but I am excited. Now I just need to have everything ready!