Like the Land diving in Vanuatu, a tower rises at FTC
FTC TREE TEST TOWER
BY MARK BRIDGE OF "TREEMAGINEERS"
The conception of the drop tower dates back to discussions we had within treemagineers in 2011. There was a reoccurring theme of "wouldn't it be great if we could do this" or "wouldn't be great if we could test that" which lead to the realisation that once again we were missing a platform on which to evolve ideas and concepts as well as to validate techniques through replicable testing.
There ensued a lengthy design process, as we were keen for the tower to be versatile, highly rope friendly, future-proof as well as as rigid as possible in order to get accurate results. For this we hired some clever engineers to evolve a concept, once that was done, the tower built was on Anglesey, off the coast of north Wales.
We also wanted to give back to the arborist community which had been supporting us by buying into the concepts and the equipment we had involved in designing and developing.
We had the idea that it would be possible to move the tower between a number of industry events in Europe. However, the moving around and setting up of the original one-piece tower proved to be a fairly elaborate, time-consuming matter, so it ended up spending a couple of years at the DMM factory in Llanberis. In the meantime we developed a three-piece tower which serves as a central element at the German Tree Care Days in Augsburg, Germany.
The modular tower and the tree stand form central elements of the Climbers’ Forum at the German Tree Care Days, a truly unique event world-wide which explores all possible facets of climbers’ culture in tree care. The event is a mix of formal as well as practical, hands-on presentations and is simultaneously translated between English and German. The other parts of the event are the academic conference as well as the trade show.
The dates for this year are 25 to 27 April; for more information: see here.
A TEST TOWER AT FTC
FROM DREAM TO REALITY
The FTC team knows this tower very well, we did a demonstration on it a few years ago concerning the distribution of forces on the anchors. After equipping ourselves with a horizontal traction bench to test the resistance of our products internally, we dreamed of the essential completment. A structure that makes it possible to carry out various tests.
The tower designed by Treemagineers seemed to us to be THE solution that met our needs. We know perfectly well the exploitable potential of this tower.
7m50 high, 2m50 side, everything is done so that it is easy to use on a daily basis or almost. It is designed to be used specifically with ropes, it offers us the possibility of creating and setting up extensions for many applications simulating work in trees... It stands on the ground of the FTC premises, visible from the window of the design office, our engineers and our director have apparently found a new toy, work support. There is no doubt that they will be able to make the most of this new playground.
It will be used for many equipment tests, but also for the implementation of many projects. (You may even be invited to a cool thing soon, stay tuned!).
LAND DIVING
Not sure that at FTC we make the same use of our test tower as those brave young men who, to enter adulthood, jump from the top of the tower, a simple vine attached to their ankles...
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