Noisy Flag Pole

I've heard and seen the flag. It's a giant green Canadian flag with a pot leaf instead of the maple leaf and the clanking sounds like a train crossing.

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Originally Posted by Linctex
Buy them a cheap fan for their bedroom so they can have some "white noise"

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Originally Posted by PimTac
"It's a flag pole I built with 2 different sized fence posts plastic coated. One driven into the ground and the other sits inside it higher up. Then I have a pressed in bearing at the top with an threaded ring at the top through the center of the bearing that allows the flag to clip to the top but spin around the pole as the wind direction changes. The ring making the noise is the ring that rides on the pole and is clipped to the bottom of the flag. It's a heavy ring to keep it weighted down. I did it this way because it was like a $25 flag pole that is super sturdy versus the $160 they want for the actual kit. Aside from being noisy it works perfectly."




Those the bottom ring encircles the pole and it is that which is making the noise? This is not the usual setup. Any kind of padding or sound isolation might hinder the travel of the ring up and down the pole.

My Coast Guard thinking is that you could wrap small line 1/4 " around the ring using contact cement to keep it on the ring. The seam would have to be secured somehow. Then a coat of varnish or paint would seal the deal. If you have been on a ship you may have seen handrails done like this. It's called coxcombing.

http://www.frayedknotarts.com/rails.html


Pim I see what you are saying, but having thought about it I think what I'm going to do is make up a coated steel cable with a loop on one end to slip to the loop attached to the bearing at the top, and the other loop that goes around the pole. I'll clip the flag to the top and bottom of this cable. I just need to find something I can use as a collar on the pipe to keep the cable loop at the bottom from riding up too far on the pipe. Maybe a Rubber Coupler.

I'll draw it out so everyone gets what I'm talking about.

EDIT: DRAWING....



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You could also wrap the flagpole in a rope, nautical style, and keep the hardware as is. That would deaden the sound effectively.

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Originally Posted by FordBroncoVWJeta
Originally Posted by JohnnyJohnson
Frankly my first question is why didn't a good neighbor come over knock on the door and just say Steve I need to talk to you? Not it not the noise my feeling is a common problem these days this guy is offended by flags. Nothing short of stopping flying this flag is going to satisfy him.

Some people don't want to create hostility. Nobody knows how the other will react to the other. I highly doubt they are upset with him flying a flag unless it was offensive.


Op, maybe the sound is a higher pitch. Some people can hear it a lot easier than others.


agree.
you should have been hearing it.
and dog owners never hear their own dogs bark, even hounds in a quiet valley.
 
Originally Posted by edwardh1
... you should have been hearing it.
and dog owners never hear their own dogs bark, even hounds in a quiet valley.

My pugs are noisy from snoring, to barking, to tooting, to you name it they do it all. I notice this.
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Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Canadian Solution: A Ringette ring.

I never heard of that until now. (I'm not much of a Hockey nut)
 
Originally Posted by Garak
Some neighbours would just do better to move to the country.
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While I prefer country to city living there are flagpoles in the country as well. The usual suspect with the normal flag pole are the halyard clips as they bang away on the pole. There are other noise sources as well.

If I were Steve's neighbor I would have met with him face to face. People have forgotten how to talk to each other in this interweb age. A favorite beverage would make things at ease plus the offer to help solve the situation.
 
We would have taken it down right away until it could have been fixed and would have apologized for the inconvenience had they come to our door. Nothing about the property or us looks intimidating so I scratch my head at the letter instead. It's weird. Most of us know each other on the street too.
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Digging up a picture as we speak, should show the flag pole too.


EDIT: Picture.... (The city fixed that nasty interlocking stone walk-way since this picture was taken)




Our House 2.webp
 
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Originally Posted by StevieC
Originally Posted by Snagglefoot
Canadian Solution: A Ringette ring.

I never heard of that until now. (I'm not much of a Hockey nut)


Check out Canadian Tire or Sportcheck.
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The easiest thing to do is wrap the line around the pole once before securing it.

- hoist to desired height
- make one axial wrap of the lines (essentially you are creating one long spiral of the lines down the external surface of the pole along it's axis)
- pull down firmly
- secure lines to cleat

keeps the lines wrapped tight to the pole and won't rattle with the wind.

Been doing this for decades; works great and no added cost.
 
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dnewton...when in year 10 at HS, I was the "flag monitor" had to be there half an hour before school to raise it, and half an hour after school to lower it.

Absolute requirement was to wrap the cord, as neighbours complained about the Oz flag at a tyke highschool
 
Nice work (and nice property!) but the bearing and ring and all seems a bit of over engineering considering all the flags attached to a halyard line with a pulley at the top and a cleat at the bottom with no problems flying freely. Did you have a problem with it wrapping up around the pole?
 
Originally Posted by Bud
Maybe you don't hear because you are so used to it. Sorta like people that let their dogs bark for hours on end. At least it was a nice and respectable letter.



+1

I don't hear our blatantly loud driveway alarm at home anymore because the "door bell" at work is the same exact sound.


Put a piece of pipe insulation on the ring. Takes 90 seconds. Cheap. Easy to replace in 3-6 months. Problem solved.
 
It may be a situation where once you hear a noise you just cant unhear it. Sorta like a noise your car makes that no one else hears, or even pays attention to. Instead of wrapping the metal clip itself, which may hinder using it, put a band of rubber around the pole itself.
 
Originally Posted by AZjeff
Nice work (and nice property!) but the bearing and ring and all seems a bit of over engineering considering all the flags attached to a halyard line with a pulley at the top and a cleat at the bottom with no problems flying freely. Did you have a problem with it wrapping up around the pole?


Thanks, we take pride in the property we live. Even our rental is well cared for. We find it keeps and attracts good tenants. We get offers all the time on both houses in our mailbox from Real Estate agents with interested buyers and that we should call them. This house had ugly yellow bricks (same colour as the neighbour) with a green roof and the awnings over the windows / front door had green stripes. We painted it all and it looks much better I think.
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The reason I did the bearing was because of failure of other methods. The winter weather is brutal on the flag pole and I would often find it wrapped around the pole because not using the bearing and using other methods would leave things seized.
 
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