Another opinion and comment.
Living on the ocean, I have put my trust in the cable riggers who service
the fishing fleet out of the central OR coast port of Newport. They inspect
my cables every year and they recommend LPS2 and LPS3 but state that any
good penetrating lube that has a high immune to water washout is OK. I've
seen lubed cable (who knows what brand) from some of the fishing fleet boats
that looks terribly rusted on the outside, that when cut, are pristine
inside. The rigger noted that good brand wire cable is well galvanized
through and through and the strand material itself is somewhat corrosion
resistant.The rigger I work with told me to LPS2 for the initial coating and
follow up with LPS3, but he does when the mood fits, use a couple of other
brands too.
As Steve noted, the cables on the crankups (I have 2) are oversized for the
actual load.
And even here where we may see winds up into the 90's at times during the
winter I seldom crank down more than needed (typically to around 2/3 of
available height) to ensure a more rigid tower. Not concerned so much with
something going over or falling off as the looseness between the tower
sections as they move being applied to the beams, giving an amplified soft
whipping action to the elements.
Before moving to the coast I had a TH6 tribander mounted on top of a topped
100 foot fir tree in Portland and my only problem was with the element
whipping that would occur as the tree gently swayed with the winds. This
swaying was amplified at the antenna elements. After having to repair one or
more of the elements over a couple of years that had broken or cracked I
pulled everything down and went to a rigid crankup and took the tree down
for fireplace wood
Don W7WLL.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pete Raymond" <n4kwpete@centurylink.net>
To: <K7LXC@aol.com>; <towertalk@contesting.com>; <jim@n7us.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2010 5:05 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] US Tower damaged by lightning - now cable lubing
Since we are moving to cable lubing/preservation I thought it would be a
good time to surface my little test.
In April of 2008 I decided to test some of these cable lubricating products.
I decided to take four lengths of the same wire rope that was used on my US
Tower HDX572MDPL and coat them with these products and suspend them out in
the back yard (I live on acreage in the country) and see how they weather
the Florida environment.
I purchased the following products;
Fluid Film a Rust & Corrosion preventive (its also a Penetrant & Lubricant)
for wire rope and chains.
It is made by Eureka Chemical Co.
VitAlife 400 a wire rope lubricant, penetration lubrication protection. It
is made by the same company that makes the Crosby shackles and other tower
rigging hardware. The company is The Crosby Group Inc.
Prelube 6 is a Preservative lubricant for wire rope and chain lubricant.
Made by Grignard Co.
The last cable I suspended was just a length of plain wire rope from the
same lengths with no protection added.
In two years I can only report that todate the cables with Fluid Film, and
Prelube 6 have accumulated a lot of air particles as they are starting to
discolor. None of these cables show any signs of rusting yet, and the wire
rope with VitAlife and the unprotected wire rope look pretty much as they
did two years ago.
This test is ongoing and I have not yet reached any conclusions. Keep in
mind this is no professional test set up. I just wanted to get an idea of
how these above products would respond in my environment. I know they are
not being stressed etc. I am not sure how long I will let this run but the
cables are not in my way and I will just let them hang and see what happens.
73 Pete N4KW
----- Original Message -----
From: <K7LXC@aol.com>
To: <towertalk@contesting.com>; <jim@n7us.net>
Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2010 6:31 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] US Tower damaged by lightning - now cable lubing
>
> In a message dated 5/2/2010 7:30:14 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
> towertalk-request@contesting.com writes:
>
>> I think I've read (I'm hedging, as I could be wrong) that US Tower does
> not
> recommend the cable lube spray that Steve sells, though I have used it in
> the past.
>
> I've heard that and it's total bunk. The LXC Prime Directive says to
> "DO what the manufacturer says". In this case, UST is NOT the
> manufacturer
> of the wire rope cables so IMO their advice is ill advised and wrong.
> Wire
> rope manufacturers want the cables lubricated since they'll be in motion
> and
> the strands will be rubbing against each other causing wear. Ham use is
> only occasional use as opposed to commercial applications where there may
> be
> dozens or hundreds of daily use cycles but it's a good thing to do
> nonetheless. Most crank-up towers that creak and groan before lubrication
> are
> typically totally quiet afterwards.
>
> Anyway, the proper cable lubricant is a thin material that'll soak
> into the strands and doesn't leave a sticky residue.
> _www.championradio.com_
> (http://www.championradio.com) carries the PreLube which is what the
> wire
> rope manufacturers recommend.
>
> All tower manufacturers are insurance-driven enterprises so
> discouraging you from climbing around their tower and sticking your arms
> in the tower
> spraying the cables reduces their risk exposure. In all cases lock the
> tower down with 2x4's or pieces of pipe and your risk should be minimal.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve K7LXC
> TOWER TECH
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
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