Strengthening Pole

[Rodger Drye]

Hey Rob,

I did just that on one of my 2” Poles. Drilled some holes in the middle of the pole, then welded both halves flush together. I use a pole anchor at the base of all my Poles. 2 - 3/8 x 3’’ flat steel concreted in the ground 36” with 30’’ sticking out the top. I then drill two 5/8” holes through each of the 3” steel side pieces and of course through your pole. Rather it be a 2” or 3”, this way you can simply hinge or lay your pole down to R&R or do maintenance.

On yours if you wanted to keep your ground stake in the 2 bolts would definitely make your pole stronger. If you wanted to work on your pole you’d have to lift your pole up and over your ground stake...

Rodger

[Rodger Drye]

Hey Rob,

It’s been 2 or 3 years ago since I reinforced that pole, and it has made all the difference in the world. It’s just like it grew there. Can you weld Aluminum or know someone who can.? I can weld Aluminum and Steel, but I can’t afford the Aluminum set up. Fortunately I have a neighbor who has it all. I have a Millermatic Mig Welder and a Buzz Box.
I think you’re on the right track. Good Luck.!

Kindly,
Rodger

[Harold Green]

The easiest way i have found is get some two inch angle iron and heavy steel straps and band the angle iron in the weak spots,
this will stop all the sway.

[~Ray~Gingerich]

A two inch by four ft angle iron at the base and fastened tightly to the pole would be a big help. We had a tornado this spring and my pole with the angle iron remained perfectly straight but the ones on either side were bent!

[TerryW]

For 2" pipe the easy way is to pour overly wet mortar mix into bottom of pipe before erection. You just plug the bottom of the pipe and dump it into top of pipe and make sure it all collects at bottom using a ramrod, that you can make out of whatever. Hard to bend a pipe that has concrete in it.

[Rafke77]

*****ADMINISTRATOR******

This was another thread started by me. Please help me get my account back, I had logged a bunch of info on this forum in posts.
Thank you!!
-Rob

[Rafke77]

Just adding to a topic I started last year. I had got around to finally strengthening my k-24. I brought it to a local welder and had the two 8-ft sections welded the together. I grinded down the welds a little bit so the system could pass over as I raised and lowered it. Once I slid it back over the 2 ft post which I concreted into the ground, I drilled a half inch hole through the post at the very bottom one way, and then towards the top of the two foot post the opposite way, going through both posts and the concrete inside. I then bolted it together in hopes of stopping a little more of the pole sway. So far I can tell it has been working very well, I have no Martin's here yet but I'm looking forward to getting them, I'm hoping this week or next week!!

-Rob

[Whippy]

Nice weld.

I did the same thing to my 3 section pole last month. It was swaying like a palm tree. I taught my son, who is 14, to weld not long ago so here he is doing it for me. Her's pretty smart. He knew welding galvanized metal was dangerous so he ground off the coating with a 60 grit sand piper wheel before he welded plus he stayed up wind.

[Rafke77]

I did the same thing to my 3 section pole last month. It was swaying like a palm tree. I taught my son, who is 14, to weld not long ago so here he is doing it for me. He's pretty smart. He knew welding galvanized metal was dangerous so he ground off the coating with a 60 grit sand piper wheel before he welded plus he stayed up wind.

Nice! Best way to learn, hands on!

I really did not like how much it was swaying last year, with all those weak points, that added stress with this Indiana wind was asking for something to give. It's been fairly windy the last few days, and like I said, I have a noticable difference, just the gourds are rocking a little.