High Winds Strike Again

[brownjm74]

Well we had some winds last night and here is what they can do. Just for reference my Mega Tree was 28 feet tall with 96 strands of lights.

First Photo: Before the winds

Second, well you can figure it out







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[brownjm74]

Photo Two:

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[Surfing4Dough]

What a depressing sight for you I am sure. At least the guy wires are still in place--figures! :?

What was your post made out of? I also wonder if you need to have your guys out from the base further.

[JeffF]

Man... whatta bummer.

Post some details of what material the pole was made out of, the guying situation, and what kind of wind gusts there were... it'll help someone in the future for sure.

Good luck getting it erect again.

-Jeff

[jimswinder]

I showed my brother my set up on my 20' Weber tree...

Had my guy wires at the top...but he also suggested I also put them in the middle...which looks like where your mast bent.

With the top guy wired and the bottom pretty much stable, the weak point is the middle...

Sorry you had this happen...I know the pain of redoing something as BOTH my Weber tree and Mega tree went over...but it was my fault not the winds...

Set me back a few weekends...

[chuckd]

The weak point is always the middle between the guys. Unfortunately most of us have no idea about the strength of poles we use, so we also have no idea how to guy them properly.

Looks like your pole has joints too, which also adds break points (weaknesses).

Lights weigh more than you think, and lateral wind load is the major problem. That's why radio towers are rated for lateral load instead of linear load. My towers can handle upwards of 8000 pounds vertically, but are only rated to 90 Mph wind load.

You might find some oil field pipe as a replacement. It's very heavy though and will be tough to lift up.

[NWSanta]

Man that sucks.... Hopefully you didn't lose to many lights. At least it didn't go all the way over and come completely crashing down. Still a gut wrenching site!!!

-Evan

[chuckd]

One other quick comment. It was suggested to me that once you get the pole up and guyed, imagine tying a rope to the middle of the pole somewhere and pulling as hard as you can. You should not get much deflection at all, no matter where you put the pull rope.

[brownjm74]

Well it looks like the max gust for last night (early this morning) was about 45-50mph. Which is wired because my JUMP (Jack Up Mega Pole) should take winds of over 70mph. But being I had it almost 30ft in the air might change a few things. I did have 1 guy wire that held up but the other pulled the wire out. Also with the JUMP it doesn't require guy wires. The base never moved!!! I am currently building a new section of pole and hope to have it back up tonight. My pole is 1" inside of a 1.5" inside a 2" pipe. The 1.5 & 2" are fine, and all the lights work except one strobe that was crushed. So all in all it could have been worse but these things happen.

Next year I plan to change the pipe to 1.5", 2" & 2.5" Telescoping JUMP

Jeremy B.

[jimswinder]

brownjm74 wrote:

Next year I plan to change the pipe to 1.5", 2" & 2.5" Telescoping JUMP

My Mega also has 96 strings...of C6 LED's...but it is only 8 feet tall on a 2-1/2" Aluminum Mast.

20' Weber tree has the same, 96 strings of C6 LED's and has two masts... 13' x 2-1/2" base mast and 10' x 2" upper mast, with 3' of the upper mast that slides into the base mast.

My 96 strings weigh about 150 lbs...

[mdickenson]

sorry to hear about the tree,this is my first year with a mega tree,mines 18ft with a 30" star on top to total 20ft,3 guy wires to 30' metal stakes,2 ft of top pole inserted into lower,bolted,cant decide on 4800 or 6400 lights,project for thanksgiving,8 to 16 channels,will ahve to see if it can take the wind also........good luck...mike

[Guest Don Gillespie]

brownjm74 wrote:

Next year I plan to change the pipe to 1.5", 2" & 2.5" Telescoping JUMP

Man thats terrible at least you still have time to repair hopefully you get things up and running soon good idea on the pipe change should be a lot stronger

[DanglinModifiers]

Glad to see I'm not the only one having trouble with the JUMP this year. I'm only doing a two-stage, 20 footer. About halfway through the final lift, the upper pole racked inside the lower one, and wound up tilted 5 to 10 degrees. I couldn't raise it or lower it from that point.

I got up on the ladder and was able to muscle it back straight while my wife slowly cranked it down. I left it there (one segment away from full extension) and quickly added some guy wires.

Needless to say I'm very worried about how it's going to hold up...

[brownjm74]

Well I was able to make repairs and everything went great for our "light-up" party! I had to cut down the 1" pipe to 4 feet long. The 1" pipe can't handle the weight and wind without bending and that's even with guy wires! However I was able to build my new Mega Tree topper that I was going to build for next years show. So anyone wanting to go higher than 23' with their JUMP will need to upgrade their pipes to 2.5", 2" & 1.5". Here is a photo of the new topper, and will and a new photo of the resurrected JUMP later.

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[Chris A]

Count me in with a "my JUMP failed" story. I believe it was all my fault. I'm doing a 19' 2" telescoping pole. 2" as the outside pole and 1 1/2" on the inside. Both rigid electrical conduit. 8000 C6 lights. I jacked mine up with only 4 tether points on the base (this was my downfall) and it was windy, as I went back to get more rebar for securing the base, it toppled over. I have now secured the base at nine points but I think I'll always be concerned. After reinforcing the base and hoisting up the pole without lights. It was more secure and when pulling from the top it swayed but I don't think I could have pulled it over.



Chris

[TJ Hvasta]

Heres an idea that Brithsh Aerospace uses for its wing spars.. a square tube inside the round spar.. would be the factor finding one long enough to slip inside the round aluminum mast/pipe.. BA uses a 3" pipe with a .. 2" I think.. square tube inside the spar. square tube resists lateral bends, round tube keeps square corners from flexing.. BA uses this in all their smaller aircraft builds.. the BA Jetstream models 31, 32 and 41 use this design, and the Royal Navy lands these planes on carriers so they are reeeeeally strong.

just an idea for strengthening..

TJ
(8,000+ hrs in Jetstreams)

[brownjm74]

Well I ended up cutting the 1" pipe down to a 4' length and so far (knock on wood) its holding up great. I still am planing on making the changes for next year. Here is a night time shot of the Mega Tree.

Jeremy B.


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[mdickenson]

NICE.............

[HowardShank]

My entire display surived the whole night of rain and hi winds, gusts up to 50+ mph. We were under tornado warnings till 9am. Then about 8:30am a mini whirlwind came whipping through our neighborhood. Wiped out my donation sign, donation box, mega tree and couple of candy canes. Hope to get it all fixed today!

[HowardShank]

Seems winds are getting everyone this year