I put up an An Wireless HD-70 tower and exothermically welded some
ground wires to the base section before it was embedded in the concrete,
figuring that down there (roughly four feet below the surface of the
concrete) any lessening of the leg hardness due to the weld heat would
have inconsequential effects. I used a Cadweld mold I bought used on
eBay that was designed to weld a #4 solid wire to a vertical flat steel
surface.
I also attached a different ground wire to each leg above the concrete
base, though, at least partly because I wanted to be able to demonstrate
to anyone in the future that the tower was indeed grounded. For that I
chickened out and drilled holes in the legs and used half of the kind of
galvanized clamp that you can buy at Home Depot to connect a ground wire
to a water pipe (link below for illustration). Two screws mount the
clamp to the tower, and the wire goes into the hole in the clamp for the
wire. After tightening everything securely, I sprayed galvanizing
coating over the entire connection.
I'm pretty sure I could have Cadwelded everything without fear of having
a problem, but this way I was certain.
By the way, for those not familiar with AN Wireless towers, the bottom
legs of the heavy duty versions are essentially 60 degree angle stock
made from 6 inch wide, 1/4 inch thick high strength steel.
73,
Dave AB7E
illustrative link --->
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202361719/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053
On 12/22/2011 10:40 AM, Warrenwolff wrote:
> Greetings:
>
> I note the comment about CadWelding to a tower
> leg. I have seen posts here (where else?) on how
> to do it and then, just "don't do it".
>
> The installer I am using wants to exothermically
> attach my #2 copper to the legs of an AN-HD60
> tower, whose legs are definitely not thin.
>
> This was in response to my failed attempts to locate
> any "stainless shims" for clamping the #2 to the
> legs.
>
> Comments, please.
>
> Warren; W7WY
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