[TowerTalk] NOALOX

[Eric Gustafson]

Hi Dave,

I get up to Elko occasionally to visit one of our customer's
mines.  Nice country.

>Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 16:19:58 -0700
>From: Dave Hough <dlhough@rabbitbrush.com>
>
>Learned today, the hard way, NOALOX needs to be applied lightly
>like a coat of gun oil and not like bearing grease.

This should _NOT_ be the case if the right type of NOALOX was
used in the first place.  There are several different types and
most of them have no business being used on an aluminum antenna.
Do you have any idea what kind of goo was actually used?

>Took my X7 apart and the NOALOX formed a residue. Is there any
>way except steel wool and plenty of elbow grease to remove the
>residue. Have tried petroleum distillates and alcohol but no
>luck.

You don't say specifically, but it sounds like this is more than
residue.  Have you by now removed enough of it by mechanical
means to determine if there was actually an underlying corrosion
problem that affected the aluminum?  If not, take some
scotch-brite and see if you can get enough of the residue off to
tell if the underlying aluminum was etched.

Some of the NOALOX mixes have copper particles in them.  If they
do, and use a petroleum based grease, they can promote the
corosion of the aluminum in a big way.  Goo with graphite in it
is also not a real good idea for aluminum to aluminum joints.

73, Eric  N7CL


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