I have used the Harbach stuff and the cast saddle and stainless u-bolt combo
is really nice. Remembre when you are working with stainless that it ain't
a galvanized bolt - you CAN NOT torque the bolts down like you are used to
doing.
The best place I found to find Stainless Steel hardware was actually a
marine/boat/ship place....dunno how many boat places there are where when you
leave Florida, but lots of 'em are here in Tampa...a port town.
The one marine guy I went to visit on my lunch break every day for about a
month when I built my 20 meter beam was a general marine place with one
difference...he had a wall of stainless hdwe....nuts/bolts/u-bolts/washers/
lockwashers/ screws/lag bolts (yes, lags!) - very convenient. What really
sold me on this guy though was when I found out that the stainless stuff I
had been getting at Builders Square and Home Depot was four or five times as
expensive at the chains! Yes, to some extent I was paying for the packaging
in a baggie - but heah!
I have also had good luck at bolt-houses, i.e. House of Threads, etc.....
when it comes to things like u-bolts. Do Not Go To A Hardware Store For A
Stainless Steel U-Bolt...he is probably getting it from a bolt
wholesaler....sometimes you will run up against minimum purchase
requirements, but prepare yourself for that possibility before you go there
by thinking about what you routinely use on your projects (for us it is
1/4-20 hardware). A box of 100 1/4-20 nuts, locks and flats is a must for
your shelf, right?
When I worked for a hardware store in the pricing department many years ago I
know the first thing we did when it came to pricing bolts the one at a time
purchases was to first double our cost, THEN put a handsome markup on top of
the "doubled" cost.........this is one of those things you can circumvent
when you plan ahead on your needs! What about bolts for the legs of your
tower you are about to put up...buy those at wholesale, too....and make it a
box of them - you will use them - remember you always pay more when you buy
in broken box quantities! Often you can get a lot more bolts for less money
than you would have paid for just the few you were thinking of buying for
that one fix up.
Think big - you can save money for things like your PL259's!
73
Jim K4OJ
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