A lot of you guys seem to be pretty casual about what bolts you use for
bolting Rohn towers together. The criteria seems to be "if it fits, use it"
and "if it doesn't rust, that has to be better".
What about "make sure it is as strong as Rohn bolts and won't shear off at
the worst time"? If you have fooled around much with bolts, you have surely
noticed that stainless bolts seem to twist off a lot easier than
non-stainless ones. This tells me that they are not necessarily as strong
as regular Rohn bolts. But maybe they are, I don't know, and it sounds like
most of you guys don't know either. If I were going to use anything other
than standard Rohn-issue bolts, I would first find out exactly what it is
Rohn uses and then make super darn sure what I was using was at least equal
to or better than those in ALL respects including tensile strength, shear,
and other important properties relating to strength. Rust would be a
secondary consideration because in most cases all you get is surface rust
which only causes asthetic problems. As another fellow recently said here,
if the bolts are actually rusted to the point where you think their strength
is affected, you had better take a close look at the whole tower . . .
Another thing, why do you suppose Rohn uses fine-thread bolts for 25G
instead of the more standard coarse threads? Less likely to strip, maybe?
I am certain there is a good reason and I would not presume it is not an
important one. Fine thread bolts are not as easy to find in hardware stores
and I am not sure I have ever seen stainless fine threaded bolts of the size
needed for Rohn towers. Also, I notice Rohn DOES NOT use lock washers and I
wonder why that is, too. Anybody know?
Hey, maybe you guys have actually asked all the questions and have all the
answers. I know I don't. But then, what do I know? I am only a Rohn
dealer and I have only been putting up and using towers since I put my first
pole up in 1954 . . . so I am still learning.
Stan w7ni@teleport.com
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/towertalkfaq.html
Submissions: towertalk@contesting.com
Administrative requests: towertalk-REQUEST@contesting.com
Problems: K7LXC@contesting.com
Sponsored by Akorn Access, Inc & KM9P
|