Re: [TowerTalk] Refurbishing Tower Sections

[Bill Cotter <n4alg@qx.net>]

Doug,

I just had North American Galvanizers in Louisville run my 100ft of 
Rohn-45 (30yrs old) through the four dip tanks and the hot-dip 
galvanizing tank. It looks like a new tower. The did the whole 
tower, plates, torque arms, etc for $195 - 800lbs or so. The price 
is based on weight, so you can take all your pieces in a truck, 
they clean them to bare metal and re-plate them to the original finish.

Compared to the time/effort I spent on cleaning, rust removal, 
painting, etc the 80ft Rohn-25, this process was a gift.

Check the internet for the closest galvanizer.

73 bill n4alg


At 08:57 PM 9/15/2003, you wrote:
> I have some AB-105 with some surface rust. I plan on putting part 
> of it up
> for a 40'-50' tower beside my house. In order to make it less 
> noticeable I
> plan to paint it black. (I have a black mast up next to the house 
> now and it
> is almost invisible.) I realize that the absolute best way to do 
> this would
> be to sand blast and hot dip galvanize the parts, but my guess is 
> that this
> would not be very economical. My question is which would be the best
> economical way to accomplish this:
>
> 1) wire brush the parts and paint with black Rustoleum (or 
> whatever paint is
> recommended)
>
> 2) wire brush the parts, cold galvanize the parts with ZRC (or 
> whatever is
> recommended), then paint with black Rustoleum if needed (it looks like
> standard ZRC results in a "Flat Finish, Battleship Gray", so the 
> black paint
> may not be needed)
>
> 3) paint the parts with Ospho (or similar rust converting/inhibiting
> "paint") and then paint with black Rustoleum
>
> The ZRC is about $125 a gallon. The Ospho is $100/4 gallons.
>
> I'm not sure #1 would be very long lasting and I don't really want to
> periodically repaint the tower once it is up.
>
> I'm leaning towards #2 because I think wire brushing and a single 
> coating of
> ZRC will be faster than 1 to 2 coats of Ospho followed by a single 
> coating
> of Rustoleum. From a conductivity standpoint, I think #2 would be 
> the best
> also.
>
> Any thoughts from the pool of wisdom?
>
> Doug
> K4DDR
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", 
> "Wireless Weather Stations", and lot's more.  Call Toll Free, 
> 1-800-333-9041 with any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
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----------------------------------------------------------
Bill Cotter, N4ALG             E-mail: n4alg@qx.net
173 Carolyn Lane               Home: (859) 887-5563
Nicholasville, KY 40356-9340   Work: (859) 323-6474

ARRL   ARCI #9878   QRPl #1646   QCWA #29393   FISTS #4535
----------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________

See: http://www.mscomputer.com  for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather Stations", and lot's more.  Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.

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