[TowerTalk] Crank-Up tower owners, please read

[Donald E. Stiles]

TT'ers,

I am in the throws of installing a crank up tilt tower.  The tower including
rotor cage will reach 110 feet.  I have a lot of cable to lubricate.  When I
do, I will use graphite.  Probably the type that comes with a vehicle of an
evaporative liquid.

Graphite is shaped like little platelets.  The rubbing and abrading of coax
can benefit from the graphite shape and size.  Unlike teflon impregnated
lubribrication, the teflon is like little round balls.  It is better used in
high friction applications.

One of the immediate difficulties with any automatic fire arm was the
original lubrication.  With it's oil based lubrication, the M-16, gathered
dirt and the weapon jammed an inordinate amount of times.  The answer was the
sliding properties of graphite with a liquid carrier that when gone, it left
a deposit of graphite on most surfaces.

This problem is inherent in this fire arm to begin with.  I'd take an M-14
any day...

Consider some of the graphite solutions for your cables.  If flexing is the
need, it can't be beaten.

cul es 73 de n8csp k

Tom Hammond - N0SS wrote:

> Greetings to TowerTalk readers:
>
> You you're a crank-up tower owner, please read on, others, may wish
> to hit <Del>ete at this point.
>
> For the past year, I've been 'meaning' to climb the tower and do what
> I should have done from the time I first put the tower up (5 years ago).
> That is the properly lubricate the raising/lowering cables of my 72'
> US Tower crank-up.  Shoot, I HAD two cans of spray-on lubricant,
> supposedly the "good stuff", and I was ready... but every time I tried
> to APPLY the spray, I couldn't hit the damned cable worth a darn!!!
> To the left.. to the right... ANYWHERE but ON TARGET, and when I did
> (periodically) manage to hit the cable, the foam from the lubricant
> (yes, this stuff foams for about 15-20 seconds immediately after it's
> applied) would bunch up and fall off...usually onto my leg, or shoes.
> Always had to get my ground crew (XYM Jeri, K0RPH) to "Stand Up Wind!!!".
>
> I was wasting 75% of the lubricant I attempted to apply... so I gave up,
> vowing to find a better way.
>
> It took a year... well, actually, it took about 30 minutes, it just
> took me a year to decide to attack it again.
>
> Since I had a BUNCH of scrap PC board available, I cut two pieces of
> board to 2" X 3/4" and soldered them together, along their long
> sides, and with a 90 degree angle between them.  I then pop-riveted
> on a 'handle' made from another PC board scrap.  The Handle was about
> 4" long and about 1/2" wide.  I attached it toward the top of the
> right-most piece of the two 90-degree sides, so that the bulk of
> the two larger pieces of PC board was down below the handle.  This,
> I call my 'spray catcher'.
>
> Then I went a-climbing (no, I don't have the tilt-over fixture).
>
> At the top of the tower, I (being a "lefty") held the spray catcher
> in my right hand and placed it so that it cupped one of the cables
> in the 'V' formed at the junction of the two boards.  I sprayed a
> small amount of lubricant into the 'V' and watched (thrilled) as
> the foaming began, then subsided and ALL of the lubricant actually
> STAYED ON THE CABLE, rather than flying away on the wind.
>
> I slid the spray catcher down a bit and repeated the test... success
> once again, and I found that although I couldn't slip the spray
> catcher between the tower sections when they were retracted, I could
> hold it right above one rung, spray on a bit more lube than normal,
> wait for it to de-foam, and then drizzle down the cable, past the
> bottom on the rung, to where I could again pick up with lubing the
> cable.  Worked like a charm!
>
> It took me probably 45-50 minutes to completely lube every one of
> the cables on the tower, and I actually had lube REMAINING in the can
> when I was done... a pretty decent job, considering I'd already
> wasted nearly 1/4 to 1/2 of the can the previous year trying to hit
> the cables 'on-the-fly'.
>
> I've now added a couple refinements to the spray catcher. Not sure
> if they'll help, but I suspect they will:
>
>   At the bottom of the 90-degree 'V', I've added a plate which goes
>   (horizontally) across the 'V', to catch excess lube as it liquifies.
>   I cut a 9/32" in the plate RIGHT AT the 'V', so that all the excess
>   lube would be funneled TO the cable, and I also cut a 9/32" slot
>   from front of the plate to the hole, so I could slip the cable into
>   the hole.
>
>   I also added a similar plate at the top of the spray catcher, but
>   this plate has a 9/32" hole drilled about 1/4" from the 'V' so that
>   when the spray catcher is in place, it is help slightly tilted so
>   the lube at the bottom is caused to flow to the hole.  Again, a
>   9/32" slot is cut in the top plate as well.
>
> Yeah, I know it's a long message... sorry, I just do that. But I hope
> it may help others who have experienced similar difficulties in
> properly lubricating the cables on their crank-ups.
>
> If there seems to be enough interest shown here, I will probably
> submit this article to QST for Hints 'n Kinks, or something.
>
> Thanks for your time, hope this comes in handy sometime.
>
> 73 - Tom Hammond   N0SS
>
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