Nally tower relocation project.



Nally Tower Relocation Project.



Some rough guide lines to re-installing a second-hand Nally tower.

Make sure you have an experienced welder on hand.
Nally towers are VERY HEAVY, have plenty of muscles and equipment at hand.

Start with the first image,
then read the comments at the bottom of each one as you step through them.

When you receive a second hand Nally tower, chances it has just been cut off at ground level.
Old tower pole was cut
off at ground level 		To restore the tower you have to replace the 3 odd meters of pipe still in the ground at it's previous home. Start by temporarily removing the lower bracket and pulley. They will be welded back onto the top of the new replacement lower section.
Remove lower fittings 		The idea is to have the lower tower fittings attached to the top of the new pipe section, so the joint is not taking all the load
Removing fittings 		One could have just fitted a new bracket, In hind sight that may have been easier.<br><br>Fabricating the pulled section would have been trickier though
Removing fittings 2
This is how much of the old upper section I sacrificed.<br><br>This leaves the joint about 600mm above the lower mounts and ground level.
Trim 600mm 		Seen here is a sleeve welded into the original mast, awaiting the new replacement section (top of picture) to be slid home.<br><br>Also visible is the welded up hole that is used to allow welding access to the top of the sleeve.
Fitting sleeve 		View of the sleeve welded into original pipe<br><br>As you can see, it has a decent wall thickness for structural strength.
Fitting sleeve 2 		4 large holes are drilled thru both the old and new sections of pipe to allow for extra welding (to the ends of the sleeve section
Welding holes
Chock and wedge the two sections for perfect alignment before welding.
Alignment 		Cleaning up the welding job on the 8 holes used to gain welding access to the ends of the sleeve section.
Grinding 		Make it look neat, also the heat from welding helps a good coating of &quotcold gal" paint to dry really quick!
Grinding 2 		The next trick is to stand the pipe up in your 3 meter hole, we did it by making a tripod out of part of the triangular nally tower and some 50mm sqare section at hand.<br><br>You wil also need a winch etc, and an extra long orger to dig the hole.<br><br>It is a good idea not to leave the hole too long after digging it as water seepage (and hole wall colapse) can become a problem after a day or two.
Standing up the pole
In my instalation, the ideal place was a tad too close to the clothes line (which ended up getting trimmed a tad)
Standing up the pole 2 		As it was just before Christmas when we had finished, I decided to decorate the tower with fairy lights and a star.<br><br>If the neighbours complained, I was planning to say &quotWhat, I'm not allowed to put up Chrissy decorations!"
Christmas
Christmas 2

Back to Paul's GGREC photo page