Hi Greg: I have built 2 F12 beams, 1 with 12 elements and set a lot of
pop rivets in the process.Have learned several things in the process:
1.My rivet tool is a fairly high quality one made of cast aluminum. A
few of the rivets will pull to limit and pop the stem with one grip of
the tool but most need a second short pull to set. This slows down the
process quite a bit. A tool with a longer pull would be good.
2. I found that the process can be speeded up and the quality of the
rivet set can be improved by gripping the lower arm of the tool in a
bench vise. This allows you to hold the tubing in one hand and operate
the upper arm of the puller with the other.
3. Check the overall length of the assempled element before putting it
on the boom. One of my elements had a 36 inch piece of tubing on one
side where there should be a 48 inch piece of the same diameter. I
caught this after assembling the element and before raising the
beam.Fortunately, I had a piece of the right diameter in my stock pile
and I was able to make the correction.
73 and GL, Dan, N5AR
Greg Gobleman wrote:
>
> Well, I let my fingers do the walking and I have a Tango 34 on the way.
> Well, at least ordered even though it's not yet sent.) Never having had a
> Force 12 antenna before, I forgot to ask about a rivet tool. Any
> recommendations?
>
> 73
> Greg K9ZM
>
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