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Forum Index : Windmills : trying out a new winch
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niall1 Senior Member  Joined: 20/11/2008 Location: IrelandPosts: 331 |
lately i,ve been luckly enough to get the use of a tirfor winch 
with the mill ready i was keen to try it out using a regular gin pole set up the gin pole has its own hinge pivot 
first linking in the pole 
then attaching the winch 
remove the extension pieces 
lowering the mill 
the anchor points werent very accurately placed so a fair bit of tension adjusting is done 
the winch felt like it was just ticking over doing the job ..things feel a lot safer now....  , the less my easily confused brain has to worry during lowering/raising the better
niall |
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JimBo911 Senior Member Joined: 26/03/2009 Location: United StatesPosts: 262 |
Job well done. It is nice when tihngs go well. Nice photos as well.  Jim |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5124 |
Nice winch Naill I know what you mean by the less my easily confused brain has to worry during lowering/raising the better . I tie up the dog and make sure any visistors dont talk to me when I raise or lower my windmill, there's just too much to keep an eye on, and being a bloke, I cant concentrate on more than one thing at a time. 
Glenn The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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GWatPE Senior Member Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2127 |
Hi Niall, the Tirfor winches give ultimate control. Looks like a fairly old model. My towers only need a block and tackle to lower, but when I help with other towers, the other guy has a Tirfor. The 1" per stroke seems slow, but really is the best way. I notice the cables are quite large dia. There appears to not be much straightening of the loop ends. I see you don't use thimbles. Some of the guys only have 1 wire gripper. Are thimbles and wire grippers in short supply?? Are the winds so low that you can get away without normal tower kit? Now you have access to a decent winch, it is probably time to get all the tower up to a higher standard. Gordon. PS don't take my comments too hard, but time and murphy will test all of the weak links, so is good to not have too many of them. become more energy aware |
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| niall1 Senior Member Joined: 20/11/2008 Location: IrelandPosts: 331 |
Hi Gordon i,d agree about the weak links ..i tend to fit that profile very well ....  ...
the tirfor is now the strongest link so questions should rightly be asked about everything that follows the pics dont show the cable joins very clearly but all of them have a spliced eye ...i like splicing the cable with saddle clamps afterward ....should have added the thimbles though ,its not late yet ...... all interesting niall |
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| GWatPE Senior Member Joined: 01/09/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2127 |
Here is an end I was concerned with. I could not see any joins to comment on. 
Gordon. become more energy aware |
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| niall1 Senior Member Joined: 20/11/2008 Location: IrelandPosts: 331 |
Hi Gordon heres the clearest pics i can get at the moment this is the connection of one of the upper main stays and yes i do have thimbles in there...
the one you highlighted but a clearer pic of the cable splice 
the cable as far as i can tell is 12mm elevator cable i didnt intend to buy that thick but it was available at the right price at the time....
this raises i think an interesting question as to whether spliced is as suitable as a saddle clamp for this purpose ? any advice on this is appreciated... niall niall |
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Downwind Guru  Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
There is an old saying that worth remembering when working with saddle clamps. NEVER SADDLE A DEAD HORSE.... Meaning the tail end of the cable being the dead horse. The u bolt should go around the tail end and the saddle over the live line ( main cable that will take tension). There is an easy way to splice a loop/eye in a cable and gives better strength than just a saddle clamp on its own. Part the cable end in roughly half the corded strands. Unravel the two halves back about 18" so you have like a Y in the end of the cable. Take the two halves and cross them over to form the end eye of the loop. Now twist the two halves back together by taking one 1/2 end back through the eye and then the same on the other 1/2 end. The cable should mesh back together perfectly. Once the eye is complete continue with wraping the two halves back together to form a tail section. The tail can be clamped to the live line as normal. It a neat strong eye and easy to do. There is no strain applied to the tail end this way. I have used a thin piece of metal tube to slide over the live line and tail and tapped/squashed it down tight instead of saddle clamps. (looks neater) As with the back splice, if the tail end is held parallel to the live line the splice will hold to breaking point. (Even 100mph tape will hold it all together. I would wrap some wire around the 2 before taping. if to use 100mph tape) Pete. Sometimes it just works |
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| niall1 Senior Member Joined: 20/11/2008 Location: IrelandPosts: 331 |
heres the closest i could get to a visual description of the splice i tried ,in the video its rope for some kind off boat rigging ,but the principle is the same... pretty much like Pete described http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoUgXYoMdFo niall niall |
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