In a message dated 8/6/01 12:19:12 PM Central Daylight Time, w5kp@swbell.net
writes:
> After bitching yesterday about the drips and runs I had to grind off to make
> the sections fit together, further inspection reveals lines of little razor
> sharp zinc whiskers 1/8" - 1/4" long up and down several legs, plus many of
> the diagonal cross braces. I've already cut a hand on one, so I guess I'll
> end up hand filing all that crap off of 80' of tower while it's still on
the
> ground. Sigh.... This isn't Brand X tower stuff, it's supposed to be the
> best there is. Makes me wonder if quality production work is simply not
> available these days, at any price. I'm not a metals engineer, but I'd bet
> galvanizing results like this are caused by rushing the time in the tank,
> resulting in the object (tower section) being dipped not reaching the
> ambient temp of the molten zinc. When the tower section is pulled out of
the
> tank too soon, the insufficiently heated steel sucks the heat from the
> galvanizing coat too quickly, allowing drips and whiskers to freeze that
> would normally run off and smooth out. Cranking out tower sections too fast
> = profit up, quality down. No big surprise.
> Jerry W5KP
>
Actually, Jerry it's not from too little time in the vat. It is caused by not
putting the labor in to clean up all the drips and runs. Years ago when labor
was cheep galvanizers would spend the money for a laborer to take a torch and
wire brush and remore all the drips and runs.
Today the sections are galvanized in a rack with multipule sections all at
one time. The rack itself can cause extra drips. The extra labor to clean up
afterwards is eliminated. The results are the drips you mentioned at a
competive price.
Tower2sell@aol.com
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