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Re: [TowerTalk] Joining Boom Tubing

To: WW4T@aol.com, pulsarxp@embarqmail.com, towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Joining Boom Tubing
From: mike repinski via TowerTalk <towertalk@contesting.com>
Reply-to: mikflathead@aol.com
Date: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 09:23:15 -0400
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
 I tried years ago at the muffler shop. It did not work. It split. If you try 
it, practice on some scraps. Mike

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob via TowerTalk <towertalk@contesting.com>
To: pulsarxp <pulsarxp@embarqmail.com>; towertalk <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Mon, Sep 15, 2014 9:09 am
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Joining Boom Tubing


Quick, cheap easy and effective.....
Go to a local muffler shop...
Show them what you're trying to do...
Let them put the tubing in their 'expander'....and bump it open   slightly 
for the fit you need....
I would take a short sample for them to practice on before doing the pieces 
 you actually use....
Shouldn't cost but a few $$, and take a few minutes of their time...
GL
 
Bob   _ww4t@aol.com_ (mailto:ww4t@aol.com)  
 
 
In a message dated 9/15/2014 2:02:29 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
pulsarxp@embarqmail.com writes:


I'm  slowly building up a 40 meter Moxon Beam and the boom needs to be 
somewhere  between 24 and 27 foot long depending on the article used to build 
it.   The boom has me stuck.  As all of you know, most aluminum is sold in 6  
foot lengths for shipping purposes.  That means the tubes need to be  
connected.  I'm at the point where I need to determine what I am going to  use 
for 
boom material and how to connect the segments.  

I have  some 2 1/2 inch aluminum tubing I bought surplus many years ago.  
The  stuff has a wall thickness of around 1/16th inch thick and is hard 
aluminum,  probably 6061 alloy.  I've got plenty of it in 6 foot lengths.  It's 
 

gorgeous looking tubing and I initially figured and wanted to use it for my  
boom material.  However, I have been racking my brain out trying to  figure 
out how to join the sections.  (The inside diameter is around 2  3/8th 
inches ID.) I tried 2 inch schedule 40 pipe and it is a tad too large in  
diameter to fit into this 2 1/2 inch OD tubing with an approximate 2-3/8 inch  
ID. 
(I thought maybe sanding down some schedule 40 aluminum pipe but would I  
get it to really work?)  I thought maybe turning some oak down to a  diameter 
to fit inside this tubing,  I have hunted high and low for some  aluminum 
stock to either snuggly fit inside or outside this pipe with no  success.  If 
I buy 3 inch OD tubing, it will have an ID of 2-3/4  inches.  I even 
thought of slicing the 
ends open in the form of a  cross in some 3 inch tubing and then use hose 
clamps to secure things, but  then the pipe would only be tight on one end of 
the joining pipe. I thought  maybe of slicing the 3 inch pipe open along 
it's length and then use hose  clamps to pull it tight and together again 
around my existing pipe.  The  bottom line is I have not been able to figure 
out 

how to use my tubing  satisfactorily.  I'm now starting to think maybe my 
tubing is not the  answer for my needed boom material.  That really seems 
like a big waste  as I know if I bought this tubing new it would run big bucks. 
 A 40 meter  Moxon is no small antenna so the boom material needs to be 
decent and adequate  for my purpose.

That said,  am I missing something here?   Anyone on here who could get me 
on a proper path?  I need to either find  of way to use my existing 6 foot 
lengths of 2-1/2 OD tubing with a 2-3/8th  inch ID or move on to something 
else for the boom. I'd sure appreciate hearing  from you experts as my 
quandary has been bugging me for weeks now. Right now I  am just spinning my 
wheels 
going nowhere.  I might add, I do not have a  machine shop at my QTH.  I 
thought I would try one last time to figure  out how to use my tubing before I 
give up on that idea by asking you guys for  advice.  Any and all comments 
would really be appreciated.

Lee,  w0vt
Houston
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