Homemade power pole

[Ranger J.]

So a bit of an update. The first day of travel on the road and the actuator broke. After tearing everything apart and checking all alignments, and found that many of the holes were not aligned. This put a large torque load on the actuator. When it broke, the pole fell on to the road breaking the top knuckle. The fiberglass pole took the hit and bounced off the pavement staying in one piece.
I replaced the actuator with the same style, on the hunch that it was my fault for the failure not itself. I had the base knuckle and top knuckle remade using CNC machine. I redrilled all the holes using a drill press instead of a hand drill. I now have the pole reassembled and painted. Everything lines up much better now. The only thing is from the base to the top of the arms, there is a 1/32" out-alignment. But there is no sign of twisting and torquing.

 

[Jim]

:beer: Very cool!

Thanks for the update!

 

[onthewater102]

Perhaps you should get a strap and wrap the assembly at the base so it can't flex while in transit? I don't think the misalignment had anything to do with the actuator failing - with 6' of torque working on it even little vibrations are powerful, let alone bouncing on the road. You might be able to restrict the motion and keep it from flexing some with a snug strap. Something like a deck rod securing strap or a trolling motor strap.

 

[handyandy]

nice work pictures of it down would be awesome. I've like the power poles and micro poles but I fear weather I made one or bought one that I would bust it on a low lying limb in the rivers I run. Great job so far thanks for sharing.

 

[Ranger J.]

[youtube]https://youtu.be/ZaqLG9-h5x4[/youtube]
Here is a walk through of the power pole. I have replaced the actuator since the last time it failed. Hope this is useful to you all.