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We decided to replace the front entrance
to the house and include the signal on this new concrete. It was poured
separately and was designed to rise about an inch above the concrete walk.
In this photo, you can see the hole which was 4 feet deep and the buried conduit
that would hold the wires.
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Here is the foundation with the anchor
bolts held in place by a wooded jig. The anchors were 2 foot long 3/4
diameter steel threaded rods that were bent with a welding torch at 90 degrees
for the final 6 inches to insure they would hold the signal.
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Here is a picture of the new signal mast
and crossbucks. You can see the new entryway into the house as well
as one of the Griswolds that guards my driveway. The original signal
was 14 feet high. I had to shorten this replica down to 11 feet so that
it would better fit in my yard. 14 feet would have been way too high
for this location.
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Here is a picture of Jerold attaching
the bell to the mast. Remember that WRRS Autoflags did not have a built-in
bell like the Magnetic Flagmen - a Griswold bell was used. Getting up
that high was a bit problematic.
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The cantilever was attached and a temporary
banner was used. The brackets that held the cantilever were cast by
Paul Orton who made them out of brass. They turned out beautiful.
A standard WRRS cantiliver was shortened to match the cantilever of the signal
at Ames. I only had a photo to work from so I estimated the distance
by referencing the length of the crossbucks and extrapolating the length
of the cantilever. Amazing what you can do with a calipers and a bit
of that old high school alegbra. The wires were encased in some of
that 1/2 inch flexible metal conduit.
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Here is the finshed product with a restored
banner and completed paint job. I used an original glass lens in the
side facing the driveway and a plastic lens on the other side. Actually,
the plastic lens has a better light pattern. The signal is operated
on 8 VDC. It is on a timer and comes on from sunup to about 8:00 AM,
again for a half hour at 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM. It swings flawlessly
and the light can be seen swinging though the tropical foliage at night.
The bell is on a separate cutoff switch. I wired it so that the bell
could not ring unless the signal was on, but the signal could swing without
the bell.
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