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X- pole X-pert too tight?
when I first put my pole up a few months ago, I had to get my dad to help me align it properly. He was scared I'd fall off and tightened it heaps. I knew he was overtightening it, so when he left unscrewed it quite a bit til I thought it was fine.
I only ever really use it on spin mode, and although it does spin okay, it doesn't feel as free as the ones at the studio. I have looked around and came to the conclusion it was too tight.
Today it was making a strange noise when I was doing stuff on it, sort of like the ceiling was a bit under pressure. It's a bit hot today so I thought maybe the metal is expanding. I've taken the whole pole down (for the first time) andundone all the x-joints, intending to put it back up. I did notice though that the dent in the carpet by the bottom plate is HUGE. I know furniture dents carpet anyway, so I was expecting it, but the ring is a few mm deep. So now I'm certain it was way overtight.
I want to know what your advice is as to tightening the adjuster rod up? I'll be putting it back up by myself and I don't want it too loose. How do I know when it's tight enough?
Also – what is your advice as to how long I should leave it down for? I thought it might be a good idea to give the ceiling a chance to settle, but I would like it back up for tonight. If that's a bad idea, I won't do it but I would appreciate your advice!
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10 Replies
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I've also wondered if mine is too tight, because when I spin it with my hand it goes a quarter turn and then comes back. When I do take mine down it has always left a deep mark in the carpet. I have had poles slip on me too, so its hard to know when its tight enough but not too tight. I've never taken it down to let the ceiling settle…not heard that before.
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Before I first bought it, I remember reading somewhere that it should be taken down quite frequently, but this is the first time I've taken mine down in like 3-4months!
I was reading a bit up on it last night, and read that you should allow plaster ceilings to re-settle every now and again.
I just couldn't find any specific answers as to how I'm supposed to know when it's tight enough to begin with, so I don't re-tighten it! I'm so scared of punching a hole through the roof!
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I have a special mount for mine to prevent it from falling over which I suggest….This is a copy of my post from another topic:
I have an Xpole that is pressure mounted and what I did to be extra careful it will NEVER fall is I took two sheets of plywood, cut the size of the top plate in one of the sheets (we used a jig saw so you will have to find someone handy with wood working and make sure the cutout is as close to the size of the top base as you can to prevent any side to side movement), than we both glued and screwed the two boards together one on top of the other. I than painted it to match my ceiling (it is in my living room so I wanted it to look decent!) I than took two lag bolts and screwed the board to the ceiling joist.
The total size of the layered boards for my pole which has about a 16 inch diameter is about a foot and a half by two feet ish and the plywood is half inch. When you mount your pole up u slip it into the cut out in the plywood, tighten it down and than you are for sure safe cause you have that extra half inch of space that if the pole moves you will notice and tighten it up before you fall.
I tighten mine until I can no longer tighten it with my strongest hand…never had it shift so far, there is no need to use max two hand strength to tighten it especially if you build urself a top mount for safety. When I take my pole down I have deep depressions in the carpet as well, totally normal I would say, its easily compressed and I would rather a compression mark than it to loose. If you take it down often and vacuum it ou,t the marks will go away after a time. You should not need to take the pole down to give the structure of the ceiling a break, joists are strong enough to help hold up the roof or next floor.
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Sorry just saw ur last post, I thought you were concerned with the structural integrity of the joists lol. Is your celling textured or flat? If it is textured you can buy that in a spray can and just give the roof a light spray to fill it in. If its flat than just fill it in with putty and repaint the ceiling…When u plan on moving out or removing the pole for good.
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Well, tbh I'm not 100% certain it is under a joist to begin with. Which is also why I had my dad come and check it out (he is a builder lol). We're pretty sure there is one there, but can't be completely certain as it's too hard to hear and we can't climb up into that section of the roof and see it (very old house). Also, as the ceiling is plaster stud finders don't work (honestly, I think that makes the whole point of them pretty useless tbh!)
The ceiling is flat, and also because I am renting I can't screw anything in anywhere.
Anyway, my main issue is that I just want to know how do I know when it is tight enough? Because it feels like you can just keep on tightening for ages! I don't want it to fall down, but I also want it to be "loose" enough that it spins freely.
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Use a strong magnet to find the joist…There is always nails in the joists to hold it all together so rare earth magnets are amazing…stud finders are junk lol (unless you buy the super expensive ones) Xpole has an instruction video here is the link http://xpoleus.com/store/index.php?main_page=page&id=15 if you open up the assembly video and skip to about 7mins 25 secs they say to just tighten so the dome doesn't move. There is no specification for torque required since most people won't have the tools to measure it anyways. Like I said use ur strongest hand only and tighten till you can no longer turn it. Push/pull on it to see if the base moves.
Good Luck!
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I think that if the pole starts bowing at all it will start to affect spin mode. I NEVER overtightened my x pert, but one day I noticed it had a wobble on spin mode (from some bowing), it was making a weird thunk sound on spin mode, and it had some resistance poart way thruogh the spin then would release. I always barely tightented mine up to the ceilng, shook it, if it moved, I re leveled then tightened it a little more, shook it, spun on it. If it felt secure I would tighten the screws ans adjuster cover, it if slipped I'd reposition and tighen more.
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Thanks so much for all your help guys! I have just put it back up (which took me literally 5 minutes – So impressed! The first time I struggled so much it took me hours lol!). I think it was definitely overtight before, I used both Denise and Sensual's advice, and I'm confident on it now. It definitely spins smoother, yayyy.
DeniseL, do you have any recommendations for a magnet type that will be strong enough? Can I just buy one online? I think I might invest in one. It will make me feel a bit safer if I position it properly. And in the future I can bring it to friend's houses to play with and find their joists easily too!
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Oh wait I just realised you mentioned rare earth magnets.
Thanks heaps for that! Going to go hunt one down now!
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Glad to hear your pole is turning smoothly now!! I got the magnets from my folks but I'm sure they are for sale somewhere…If you have trouble finding them let me know and I can mail you one!
Good Luck! 🙂
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