I need an idea to help support some uprights.

[Bnagy]

Here is my batting cage I am building. The footers that support the poles are 12"x12"x13'. When we first winched up the net, there was a lot of tension on the poles and they lean in bad and actually started to move one of the footers. One of the bolts on the bottom of the poles sheared. I was thinking of replacing the bottom bolts with the same pins I use to unpin and fold the cage poles down. I dont have much room behind the poles to run a cable from the top of the pole to a concrete anchor point. Does anyone have an idea how I can fix it to make it work?

 

[matt_i]

Cage tension is basically bending the posts. You can increase the OD of the tubes as the simplest way to keep them straighter. Setting the post (or a sleeve) a couple feet deep in concrete plinth (below ground) is going to give the second part of the moment support.

A larger diameter bolt can help but is going to be limited by the wall thickness (bearing area) for the stresses encountered.

A very cheap and possibly undesirable solution is to put some sort of a diagonal brace 2x4, 4x4 etc, for the posts, inside the cage.

 

[Bnagy]

The posts are 2" SCH40 pipe. They would work if they were 3' in the ground, but I have to fold them down... Dang HOA... So I was thinking like this cage. Looks like someone encountered this issue before.


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[csp]

I would have embedded another piece of pipe/tubing in the concrete that the uprights could slide into when in use. Not sure if there's a way you could do that now.

 

[machine_punk]

That is the exact solution I was thinking of. Attached the brace poles with a pivot/hinge of some sort and pour footers for them. Use brackets and pins to quickly attach/detach the braces. It doesn't seem like these would get in your way, with the layout of the cage. You could run a similar pole horizontally across the top, to support the middle pole.

Kev

 

[Mr_fixit]

I'd suggest using the method in the very large picture. That's what I did. But instead of the third bar in the center, I have the bar overhead joining the two bars. And the 3 cables attach to the top bar. I have sleeves in the ground, for when the cage finally come down. It's dark, so I can't get pictures. Basically it's the same set up that many schools/fields use. You might need to abandon some of what you did, and reengineer.

 

[kingchevy]

I'm surprised they stayed up at all. Looks like they should have ripped all the bolts out of the concrete right when you cranked the net up. Just add diagonal braces one way or another. Triangles are your friend.

 

[Mr_fixit]

Here's some pictures of what I did.

 

[Mr_fixit]

You need to reinforce the corners so they stay up under the tension and weight of the cables and cage. I do that with kee klamp fittings at each corner, to have the pipe pole braces into the ground. Eventually I'll remove the cage, so I put in pipe sleeves in the ground, where the schedule 40 2 3/8 pipe fits inside. My poles are considerably wider than the cage itself, with three overhead cables at the proper width that goes along with supporting the mesh cage itself. I use carabeeners that I can slide along the 3 cables to move the cage to one end in the winter The wires stay up all year, the cage I move to one end for the winter. I did weld 3 eyes at the end s to attach the cables. I used turnbuckles to tension the 3 cables to support the weight of the cage.