Fireman's pole

This might sound ridiculous to some but I am building a new house which has a loft and I am putting a "fireman pole" in it for a fun way to get downstairs. I was thinking of stainless steel pipe or brass. What diameter and wall thickness should I get so it is not wobbly. Would filling it with cement help to sturdy it.

Reply to
habbi
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I think a fireman's pole *has* to be brass. Filling with cement might allow a thinner wall. RR

Reply to
Randy Replogle

Reply to
kklein

To me, it would all depend on budget. Scrap pipe is cheap. Stainless and brass is more. All can be cleaned and polished and made slick. If price is no object, get the best. And do you need any help?

I'm expensive, but I'm slow. ;-)

Steve

Reply to
SteveB

As we used to say at work:

"You can get better service, but you can't pay more for it!"

Kevin Gallimore

Reply to
axolotl

Buddy of mine's dad put one in back when I was a kid. Used a ~20' 2" iron pipe with threaded flanges on both ends, bolted through the floor and ceiling with 4 x 1/2" bolts. To polish it he gave each of us (must have been 6-8 kids hanging around watching) sandpaper to hold between our knees as we slid down. Started with ~100 grit I'd guess and went finer as we polished it up. In the course of a couple hours we were using cocus cloth and had it glowing. I think he waxed it with auto wax. Nice thing was it never oxidized like brass does. Stays shiny for years, as long as you keep it dry. That was a fun afternoon!

Never underestimate the collective energy of 10 year olds.

Jim

Reply to
Jim McGill

The poles in my firehouse are brass, approx 2.5 " and wobbly over their 20'

  • length(height). I don't know what the wall thickness is. If I can check without taking anything apart I'll measure for you, if not I can ck with the quartermaster and see if he has any parts laying around. I won't be back there till Friday though. Also our poles will ring when struck so no filling.

Andrew V

Reply to
Andrew V

If you make it brass, fingerprints are a bitch. We made ours out of

3" stainless tubing, with (I think) 0.030" walls. Welded seam food grade tubing. Wobbles a bit but handles the 300 pound guys just fine.

There are logistical problems in getting concrete in there, though. And unless you put prestressed rebar in there, it's just going to break with side load anyway (no tensile strength, only compressive, and there's no force _down_ on the pole in use - it's all side load).

For ours, I took some 2" water pipe, 2' and 4' lengths, and couplings at the obvious distances. Turned down the OD to be about 0.025" less than the ID of the pipe. Rattles a bit, but that's part of the charm.

Note that our pole is also for decorative purposes only, and besides, it's been there for decades, and I have no idea who put it up. I think they're not legal for new installations in firehouses. Just to be a spoilsport, I'm compelled to mention you should check with your insurance guy first.

It's a blast to go down, though!

Reply to
Dave Hinz

May want to install pole after the inspectors give the final O.K. Had to do that with a spiral staircase. Just too many loops to jump thru to make it meet code.

Reply to
Mike

The stripper that lives next door to me here in LA has a practice pole in the middle of her living room. She used a plastic covered steel pipe about 1.5" in diameter. The pipe and its plastic coating is a light blue and was bought off the shelf. She occasionally asks me to critique a new routine. Sigh..usually wears sweats or shorts and a sport top...damnit.

Gunner

" We have all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare...Thanks to AOL and WebTv, we know this is not possible."

Reply to
Gunner

Natural gas pipe is plastic coated in many areas. Very durable and fairly thick. Available thur 2" that I've seen and it's schedule 40 in thickness. (Read heavy here.) It's covered for direct burial. Wax it up and slide to your heart's content.

BillP in Phx.

Reply to
BillP

Remember the firemen hit the pole in a urgent move and other times in walk and grab. So a lunging body - yours running from a fire - might bend/break a thin wall or a non-filled pole.

What is the spec of a firemans pole ? That might be searchable. Might be a call to the local city and find who did the designs - and get the spec from the draft type Engineers...

Martin

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

It might be difficult to find a modern spec for a firepole, I don' think anybody installs them for anything but looks anymore. It doesen't take too many broke ankles to make the stairs cost effective. My firehouse was built in 1910. Of the houses that have poles none are less the 75 yrs old.

Enjoy

Andrew V

Reply to
Andrew V

Hmmm, brings a new meaning to "dress rehearsal" don't it?

Reply to
pyotr filipivich

Right, the side load is substantial, the vertical load is trivial.

Ours just springs back, constructed as detailed earlier.

I tried this with the Milwaukee Fire Department a couple years ago, and the best I could get was to physically inspect the pole. Theirs are hollow unfilled brass tubing. They have quite a bit of side-play, especially from a 20 foot ceiling. Nobody had a clue where I could find specs or engineering data for them, though.

Reply to
Dave Hinz

The worst part is...she is one of those types that believes boinking me would ruin our friendship. On the other hand..she does have some girl friends that come to visit. On the gripping hand..while it sounds interesting....the reality of the situation is that many..if not most strippers have some serious mental or emotional issues. Not all and the older ladies tend to be well adjusted..but the young ones are most often space cadets that are best avoided in that sort of activity.

But the sceanery can be delightful.

Gunner

Rule #35 "That which does not kill you, has made a huge tactical error"

Reply to
Gunner

I can get 3" OD SS ornamental tubing with .065 wall for $175.00 or 3" sch.

40 SS pipe for $475.00 canadian. These are 20' lengths. Would the first one be too wobbly, if so how about concrete and rebar inside or how about concrete and a smaller schedule 40 steel pipe inside. What about the second one? The length will be 18-20 feet Thanks for all replies
Reply to
habbi

We've put up quite a few bleachers. They come with 1 1/2 aluminum rails that have fins extruded on the inside. Quite a rigid pole.

Southern bleacher:

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may sell you one, transportation will be unique.

(top posted for your convenience) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Keep the whole world singing . . . . DanG (remove the sevens) snipped-for-privacy@7cox.net

Reply to
DanG

We're at 19 feet. 0.065 wall with water pipe inside should do you well. Thing about concrete/rebar; how do you plan to get the concrete into the pipe, exactly? (I don't know either, that's why we put iron pipe inside).

Reply to
Dave Hinz

That might be the trick - not a hard point connection. A soft connection that in it self takes some of the spiking force that might bend or break a hard point connection.

I would guess the pole would 'ring' and set transverse waves up and down the pole under action. Something like a real flat sine wave.

It might be best - must be thought out - to mount the top in the center of a ring that contains the motion but allows movement.

Food for thought. Wonder what the ceiling connections look like on the old design versions !

Martin

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

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