Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2012 05:12:33 +0200
From: "Peter Voelpel" <df3kv@t-online.de>
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Crank-ups.....do NOT lubricate your cables
I helped to install LUSO towers at DL3KO together with LUSO engineers.
All the tower cabling was lubricated with grease after erection and should
be repeated regularly. .
73
Peter, DJ7WW
## UST uses in house made Aluminum pulleys. They have a sealed bearing in
the middle of them.
I have 22 pulleys on my UST HDX-689. UST’s concern is that if grease is
used, dirt, sand, debris, etc,
will stick to the grease, and then the same debris will get mashed into the
soft aluminum pulleys, damaging the
pulleys. Those UST pulleys are not cheap either.... aprx $150.00 EACH.
## grease on the outside of the cables will not lubricate anything inside
the cable, where it is needed most.
The internal strands are rubbing against each other, longitudinally, since the
strands closest to the pulley
trough, turn at a tighter rate vs the outer strands. That’s yet another
reason not to use small diam pulleys.
Pre-lube 6 soaks right through to the inner core...where it can actually do
the most good. Meanwhile, no
greasy residue left on the outer surface to attract dust, dirt, sand and
debris.
## IF UST had used steel pulleys instead of softer aluminum ones, this whole
thing might be another
story. Still, the local ship yards all use steel pulleys.... and pre-lube 6.
4 x 55 gal drums per pallet, and
pallets everywhere. I’ll ask our local mobile crane company this week,
what they use on their cables.
Bottom line is.... nobody in the industrial world is running them dry...but
none of them use aluminum pulleys
either.
Jim VE7RF
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
TowerTalk mailing list
TowerTalk@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
|