Hot and Dangerous

[Die Judicii]

It's very hot and humid here today, and I've just finished working up top of a 20 foot windmill tower.
The tower itself is as dodgy as possible.
Bolts loose and or missing on the ladder going up the frame,,, and the timber platform at the top was all loose and rotten.
The mill itself hasn't been working for quite some years.

So, I made an executive decision to get rid of it, but easier said than done, because I wanted to salvage some parts.
I want the gears for another unrelated project, and to just bulldoze it would wind up with them being smashed.
So I climbed up and attached two opposing steel cables to the very top of the tower.
That being done I got down,, (my legs are now shaky and feel like jelly) and hooked them up to a tractor and dozer.

Whilst held in this manner, I cut one tower leg down the bottom,, and then pulled in the opposite direction while slowly backing up with the other.
This enabled the slow and controlled lowering to the ground of the entire unit without smashing the gears that I want to keep.

Good fun,, on a stinking hot afternoon.

[Blr243]

Good decision to retire it. I’m sure plenty have died over the years falling off them. When my father was about 60 he had an old rotten wooden ladder. Not a 6 footer. A bloody big extension laderr .. it was cactus but he insisted it was ok and insisted he still kept useing it. So I chopped it up in front of him with an axe as he passed on several colourful words in disapproval of my action

[Die Judicii]

Did he ever get around to thanking you for doing so in the long run ?

Your not wrong about deaths,,, I shudder to think how many since windmills were invented.
There was one fatality only 30 klms from here just before Xmas.

[Blr243]

He knows that I did the right thing so all is good.

[Oldbloke]

I hate ladders
They cause a lot of deaths

[Blr243]

I know of an electrician that came down hard of a ladder and shattered his heel. But he was always getting electric shocks and constantly smoking dope so he was sort of never in the best state to operate safely anyway .... he probably even falls out of his own bed

[Die Judicii]

I know of an electrician that came down hard of a ladder and shattered his heel. But he was always getting electric shocks and constantly smoking dope so he was sort of never in the best state to operate safely anyway .... he probably even falls out of his own bed

Freakin hell,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and he was licensed ??????

[Blr243]

Buggered if I know but electricians and plumbers have licences I think above and beyond a general tradesmans qbcc licence ( health and safety reasons ). If people are smashed or fried at home not bothering anyone I’m not too worried ... I think it’s appropriate that people caught driving in public areas under the influence be charged ...... perhaps our electrician that we trust in our homes should be clean too

[perentie]

Windmills. I know what you mean. I bought and erected a 30 foot one here 20 years ago. Last year I thought I better top up the oil, even though it looked and ran OK. One board had dropped off over the years. I got the longest alloy extension ladder I had . Stood it in the back of the ute and it just got me to the height I could replace the board. Then with my pot of oil and hoping the wind did not change I clambered over the boards and onto them. Hanging on with one hand I got the wing nut off the cover and looked in. It was empty but still oily. Reached down for the oil and poured it in. Replaced the cover and retraced my steps. I hate heights and my knees were trembling too. I think that will be the last time I will do that. I am 74
That Southern Cross is the most reliable water pump I have.

[Oldbloke]

Windmills. I know what you mean. I bought and erected a 30 foot one here 20 years ago. Last year I thought I better top up the oil, even though it looked and ran OK. One board had dropped off over the years. I got the longest alloy extension ladder I had . Stood it in the back of the ute and it just got me to the height I could replace the board. Then with my pot of oil and hoping the wind did not change I clambered over the boards and onto them. Hanging on with one hand I got the wing nut off the cover and looked in. It was empty but still oily. Reached down for the oil and poured it in. Replaced the cover and retraced my steps. I hate heights and my knees were trembling too. I think that will be the last time I will do that. I am 74
That Southern Cross is the most reliable water pump I have.

Thats very dodgy

[perentie]

I agree. But I had no other option. I was thinking of a rotary gear pump set up at the bottom with a copper pipe going up unto the gear box pumping from an oil pot. But then I still had to get up to set it all up anyway. As I said that will be the last time I will need to get up there.
Those big outback mills must be really scary to service.

[Sergeant Hartman]

They probably use cherry pickers or scissor lifts to do the service, which you can hire for a couple hundred bucks per day