B-702 Platform size and tower placement

[hwy8]

I'm just about finished rebuilding a 20' tower and have finished attaching my 5' Aermotor stub-tower and mast pipe. We are putting it up in the backyard next weekend. I need to make a platform and don't know what size to make it. I don't know who manufactured the tower but the full ladder runs up the side so I am going to make a "U-shaped" platform out of diamond plate as I have in the past. I've never had a 10' machine so I'm clueless how big to make it and I don't know where to mount it for wheel clearance. The factory 5' stub tower has a corner hole drilled in each leg: Are they for the platform bolts? I could calculate/guess but is there a set of tower assembly instructions that would have the measurement? Just for a point of reference, how many inches from the bottom of the mast tower casting to the top of the platform?

[PaulV]

Here's a few photos of the platform on our B702. It's made of 2"x12" boards. You are correct, the corner holes are for mounting the platform. The platform bolts are 'L' shaped. Hope this helps.

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[Wayne]

I'm a coward especially when in the air. My idea about a platform it can't ever be to big for me. I like lots of room for tools and me when I'm on it.

[Bryon]

The platform would be about 5.5 ft from the top of the mast pipe. Give or take a few inches. If that is where the holes are in the corner of your stub tower, then that is where the platform will go.

[hwy8]

It looks like 36" square will be enough to stand and have a bucket of tools too....Great pictures and advice! Thanks!

[JBarker]

I just installed a B702 on a 33 ft tower and left the platform tower bolts too high and the wheel started hitting them two days after the install. Lesson learned....always cut the bolts off on top of the platform and always check for clearance by spinning the wheel all the way around the tower. I learned a hard lesson on that job.

[windybob]

Better a platform to be 6 inches low than 1/2 inch to high.

[Ron Stauffer]

Be advised that the same size platform L bolt was used for 6' to 14' mills and were only meant for a board width of ten or eleven inches. The 16' has the only large platform like you are wanting and the platform bolt is much larger and longer. You can see why when you have a L bolt only 3" away from the tower angle with weight cantilevered out on it.

platform bolts.jpg

%' stub angles for a 10' has a hole for the L bolt at 48" from the the end of the angle. I like the 5' stubs for 10' for wood towers.

Since 10' do not have an oiling platform too they are low unless you are tall. I like to have a one inch angle cleat on the down wind side about 10" higher than the platform. This puts you on the same working height as a standard 8' platform height. Downwind side as it is nice crawl up between the fan and tail as it will be pulled in.

Ron Stauffer
Montrose CO