Quick, cheap easy and effective.....
Go to a local muffler shop...
Show them what you're trying to do...
Let them put the tubing in their 'expander'....and bump it open slightly
for the fit you need....
I would take a short sample for them to practice on before doing the pieces
you actually use....
Shouldn't cost but a few $$, and take a few minutes of their time...
GL
Bob _ww4t@aol.com_ (mailto:ww4t@aol.com)
In a message dated 9/15/2014 2:02:29 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
pulsarxp@embarqmail.com writes:
I'm slowly building up a 40 meter Moxon Beam and the boom needs to be
somewhere between 24 and 27 foot long depending on the article used to build
it. The boom has me stuck. As all of you know, most aluminum is sold in 6
foot lengths for shipping purposes. That means the tubes need to be
connected. I'm at the point where I need to determine what I am going to use
for
boom material and how to connect the segments.
I have some 2 1/2 inch aluminum tubing I bought surplus many years ago.
The stuff has a wall thickness of around 1/16th inch thick and is hard
aluminum, probably 6061 alloy. I've got plenty of it in 6 foot lengths. It's
gorgeous looking tubing and I initially figured and wanted to use it for my
boom material. However, I have been racking my brain out trying to figure
out how to join the sections. (The inside diameter is around 2 3/8th
inches ID.) I tried 2 inch schedule 40 pipe and it is a tad too large in
diameter to fit into this 2 1/2 inch OD tubing with an approximate 2-3/8 inch
ID.
(I thought maybe sanding down some schedule 40 aluminum pipe but would I
get it to really work?) I thought maybe turning some oak down to a diameter
to fit inside this tubing, I have hunted high and low for some aluminum
stock to either snuggly fit inside or outside this pipe with no success. If
I buy 3 inch OD tubing, it will have an ID of 2-3/4 inches. I even
thought of slicing the
ends open in the form of a cross in some 3 inch tubing and then use hose
clamps to secure things, but then the pipe would only be tight on one end of
the joining pipe. I thought maybe of slicing the 3 inch pipe open along
it's length and then use hose clamps to pull it tight and together again
around my existing pipe. The bottom line is I have not been able to figure
out
how to use my tubing satisfactorily. I'm now starting to think maybe my
tubing is not the answer for my needed boom material. That really seems
like a big waste as I know if I bought this tubing new it would run big bucks.
A 40 meter Moxon is no small antenna so the boom material needs to be
decent and adequate for my purpose.
That said, am I missing something here? Anyone on here who could get me
on a proper path? I need to either find of way to use my existing 6 foot
lengths of 2-1/2 OD tubing with a 2-3/8th inch ID or move on to something
else for the boom. I'd sure appreciate hearing from you experts as my
quandary has been bugging me for weeks now. Right now I am just spinning my
wheels
going nowhere. I might add, I do not have a machine shop at my QTH. I
thought I would try one last time to figure out how to use my tubing before I
give up on that idea by asking you guys for advice. Any and all comments
would really be appreciated.
Lee, w0vt
Houston
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