should i discontinue and delete the water tower?

the water holding part of the tower is basically a huge barrel
to hold it together you need adjustable rings
here is a drawing for the part that makes those rings adjustable

tribes.tribe.net/oldworldc...adea941b4f

quit simple to make but it has to be welded very well, there will be quite litteraly tons
pressing against it constantly, these are the weakest part of the barrel, remember that

we are going to make a 1,000 gallon tower
so itll have inside dimensins of 6ft diameter and 6 ft tall
we need the circumference so we can make the rings
Pi*d or 3.1416 * 6 gives us a little over 18 feet
we need room for the adjusters so we cut our rings at 16 feet long
rebar (concrete reinforcement bar) 1/2 or 3/4 inch will work nicely, id go with 3/4
get two 3 foot lengths of 3/4 inch threaded rod and weld each one to an end of the 16 foot rebar
now carefully bend the bar around in a big circle, the threaded ends should overlap
push these ends thru the 2 openings in the adjustment mount
add washers and double nuts, dont tighten them down
you need at lest 3 of these, four is better

you need 55 good 2x6's 6.5 feet long
preferably white oak, cedar or cyprus
this wood will be wet and stay wet
so you dont want somethng thats gona rot in a year
the barrel is 6 foot in diameter so that makes it somewhat over 18 feet in circumference
using 2x6 planks you need 2 per foot, so just figure 40 of them to be safe
measure in 1 inch and 3 inches from one end
use a chisel or saw and cut a shallow "V" groove across, parallel to the end
this will be your barrels bottom, the "V" will hold the actual bottom in place

take 12 more planks and lay them side by side
run a cross plank or 2 and tack them in place
make sure your planks are tight together
mark a 6 foot diameter circle on these planks and cut off everything outside the circle
chamfer the outer edges of your wooden circle just a bit
lay some 1 inch thick spacers on your tank platform
3 or 4 so you can lay the circle you just cut out on top of them
center it as best you can
stand one of the earlier planks up so the "V" notch covers over the edge the circle
tack it in place and prop it up
now add more planks the same way, keep them as tight packed togther as you can
the last plank will have to be trimmed to fit
you dont want to drive it in, the outer wall wont seal to the bottom circle
but you also dont want such a gap between boards that it leaks there either
when you have the last plank in place, add your iron rings
stagger the adjusters so thy arent all in the same place
now rake a wrench and tighten them down slowly
when one is snug, move to another one
and dont tighten just one nut on each, tighten both
space your rings evenly from bottom to top
the bottom one being no more than 2 inches above your wooden circle

i forgot, bevel the vertical edges of your planks for the uprights
not much, just skim like 1/16 inch off the inside corners
(the side the "V" notch is in)
so they have a very slight taper from the outside to the inside

now decide what size pipe you want for your water to come out
get a holesaw that size
if at all possible straddle your hole over a joint where 2 planks meet
and cut your hole right out through the bottom
make a bigger hole in your platform and set your pipe in place
make ssure your pipe sticks up about 1 inch inside your barrel
this will keep any trash build up from being in your water for a while
you may also wish to put in an overflow pipe
do it the same way but set the top of the pipe at the height you want your water to stay
now make sure your rods are tightened securely
put shut off valves om your pipes
fill your tank :)

GOOD POST

Pretty cool. Saw the post on a separate tribe and decided to join.