Setting Up the Pile Driver

Checking for plumb

Checking it again

Almost There

18' Driven into the ground and done

Finished piling ready for base plate installation

Welding the base plate to the piling

Still welding the based plate

Base plate top weld completed

Welding the base plate bottom to the piling

Adding the additional supports

Welding the last of the plates to the base plate

Finished base plate welded to the piling

Installing the hinge bolts for the upper and lower plates

Gin Pole collar and bolts

Raising bottom monopole section

Fitting the gin pole sections

centering the holes

Gin Pole assembly all bolted together

Cable anchor point

Measuring the wire

Back Down

Adding the next section

Preparing to install last 10' Section

Bolting last section on

Adding the arm for a floodlight

transfer wind turbine from stand to tower

Bolting Turbine to Tower

Ready to erect

Winching Up

Guiding the Unit Up

turbine blades clear the ground now

Now freestanding

Wrapping it up

We utilized a 20' long 12" diameter steel piling as the mounting point for our monopole tower.

It's critically important that the piling be driven straight into the ground so we had to pause the effort every few feet to make corrections.

We can't stress this enough, it's absolutely critical that the piling be driven in straight and true so check it often.

After the piling it driven it's cut off level with a plasma cutter

The inside lip of the base plate is then welded to the top of the piling.

It's very important that the base plate be securely welded top and bottom to the piling

Reinforcing webs are then welded to the bottom of the base and the piling. It's important that the plates not block access to the tower hinge plate bolt holes.

Please note the grinding we did on the hinge side of the plate to give us enough clearance for the top of the hinges to clear. The additional thickness of the galvanized coating we had added to the tower had reduced the clearance forcing us to remove a few mils of material.

Here we are installing the hinge plate mounting bolts and fitting the gin pole collar to the upper hinge plate

The gin pole is easier to attach if the first pole section is raised. We also wanted a chance to check the clearance of top and bottom hinged based plate sections. We don't want to discover after it's all together that we are off.

Now we attach the gin pole sections to the gin pole collar

Preparing to bolt the gin pole section to the collar

Next step is to attach the lifting cable thru the gin pole to it's anchor point

He we use a ladder to attach the cable to it's anchor point.

We now measure the power cable that will carry the current from the turbine to the disconnect

and now we winch the gin pole and bottom monopole section back down so we can bolt the remaining sections in place

The secound 20' section is now bolted to first section

With a bit of help we bolt the Kestrel to the top of pole using the 8 stainless steel bolts torqued to the proper specification.

This is the last chance to check everything before it goes up. Our winching is preformed by a Chevy Silverado 1 ton using a warner 8,000 pound electric winch.

And now we slowly winch the tower up into place

as we slowly winch the entire assembly into place

And finally the hinged base plates are bolted together and the gin pole collar removed.