I have used irrigation tubing for a number of vertical projects
in years past. There is some decent stuff out there and some
pretty lousy junk. It is probably most available from the
irrigation supply stores, but is being obsoleted by PVC tuning.
But it has also been available from the mainstream aluminum mills.
From my old Kilsby-Roberts catalog there are two types available--
called Construction Tube for low pressure water.
Standard and Heavy Duty.
Standard Heavy Duty
OD Wall OD Wall
2 .05 -- --
3 .05 3 .065
4 .05 4 .072
5 .052 5 .078
6 .058 6 .083
7 .064 -- --
8 .072 -- --
Standard was available in 6063-T31 and 6063-T6
Heavy Duty was available in 6063-T6 only. Not sure
what is available now from their new ownership.
Standard lengths are 20/30/40 ft.
I had to order my 4 inch OD heavy wall tubing and wait about
a month for it to be delivered. Waited so it would be on a
load with a lot of other long stuff--so I didn't have to pay
shipping charges to the distributor. Picked it up on the
roof rack of my van. 12 of the 4 inch heavy duty tubes that
were 40 ft long. You can get away with that kind of load
in farm country, but it looked pretty funny!
Should be no problem with guying it every 20 ft and I feel
confident that every 30 ft would work. I will probably use up
my remaining stock to build my 9-circle as described in
ON4UN's latest book. But don't hold your breath--just moving
all of this stuff to the new QTH is south TX will take the better
part of a year!
My biggest problem is that the ends of each tube have been
deformed by my dogs' teeth. Rabbits run into the tubing
and the dogs try to chew their way in. The heavy wall stuff
has resisted even my Rhodesian Ridgeback--but does show
a lot of distortion and teeth marks! Will probably trim an
inch or so off each end to make them slip into the 4.25 x .125
wall splice tubing. Interference fit--will require heat and cold,
some lubricant and some force. They will never come apart
again!
73--John W0UN
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