Building cheap 200' towers
Towers are easy and cheap to build. -1- Dig about 7 holes in a straight line about 12 inches deep and 10 feet apart. -2- Put in each hole a 2 by 4, about 4 feet long and fill in the dirt. -3- Use a chalk line to mark close to the top of the 2 by 4's, then saw them off so all the tops will be straight, -4- Screw on a 18" long 1by 6 on each 2 by 4, and try to buy 24' link's of tubing, it makes for less welding. -5- With a chalk line snap two lines about 14 inches apart on top of your rack. -6 Lay the 1-1/4 tubing on these lines and use 2" sheet rock screws to hold the tubing in place. Now you are ready to start welding. This thin metal is easy to burn holes in it, but you will get the hang of it before long. -7- Weld on the steps one foot apart using 3/4" flat steel. The diagonal bracing can be 1/2" flat steel
Now raise the finished side up 120 degrees, put in the other leg , then the jigs and start welding.
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At first I used a bungee chord to hold the flat steel.
Another view of the third side.
This is the second side, a stiff wire is better than the bungee chord to hold the piece in place.
The tower section is now ready to paint. If you are going climb this tower, use 3/4" flat steel for the steps.
This is two of the three sections that make this 2oo foot tower. The tower cost about 250 dollars plus many hours of labor.
Amazing! Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid I used the 24ft lengths of the heavy walled fence tubing for antenna masts. I tried several times to weld two lengths together to make a 48ft mast with the idea that I was actually going to try and do 3 of the sections. After trying to raise the two sections which I couldnt weld perfectly straight anyways, I gave up and used just the single section as a mast to elevate a 5/8 wave 11 mtr antenna. I secured the mast to my chainlink fencepost aolngside the gate to my backyard on the side of my house. I LIBERATED many of these lengths of tubing from midnite runs to a large fenced off wildlife area where these tubes were the top crossmember to a large chainlink fence out in the middle of nowhere. I was a youngster and didnt see the harm in removing just the top crossmember of this chainlink fence out in the middle of nowhere. The fence still functioned perfectly well. Even better becuase it would be harder to climb up and over without the rigid top in place. These "industrial" cross members were full length and much stouter than the type seen for residential chainlink. They made for excellent masts for modest height. I had a few of them in my parents yard, supporting my antennas when I was young and dumb.
Thank you for the pictures and build idea(s) from scratch. That said, I'm puzzled with a few questions which center around how the heck did or could you erect a 200ft tower from 3 [appx] 60ft sections?? You mention using steel and weight wise, a 60ft tower section of steel is going to be completely unmanagable in my experience, so I'm curious to hear how you erected the tower. First, did you use steel or aluminum for the pipes? Second, erection wise, how did you erect or attach the second length of tower and then the 3rd section, to finally end up with a 180-200ft erected tower?
ReplyDeleteAnd I too have built a tower from scratch, and moreso, from steel. It is a 25ft steel tower in which I erected by lifting up with a pully attached to the 60ft+ high tree I have the tower erected next to and then used rope and a vehicle [as winch] to lift the tower vertical. From that tower I have a 40ft mast which is steel based (welded together from 2ft interlocking sections of 2" dia. pipe which was originally from a portable garage). I raise and lower this mast with the rope & pully [in the tree] by sliding a large eye bolt through pre-drilled holes in the mast. I'll just clip the end of rope onto the bolt and raise/lower the mast followed by tightening down the mast clamps when raised
I wonder how Roy joined the 24-foot tower sections, since that pipe doesn't come in telescoping sizes. Obviously, he developed a method that worked well, judging by all the big towers he built and erected.
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