[TowerTalk] replacement bolt for Rohn Thrust bearing DE K0FF

[K0FF]

The question was: where is it published that would substantiate my comment
about NOT greasing tower bolts?

Wish I had a full library of data to back up the little things that I've
learned over the years. As far as not lubing the bolts, I thought that was
common knowledge. It's been included in  military manuals, and even
instruction manuals for (farm) equipment that I've assembled, but of course
I can't lay my hands on it.

To be politically correct the statement should have read " Don't lubricate
the bolts, and then tighten without using a torque wrench. Doing so can
apply undue pressure to the bolt and break it".

Try it on the bench sometime. Put a grade 2 bolt in the vice by it's head.
The a spacer, something and inch or inch and a half long. Like a pipe with a
hole in it (like a tower leg). First tighten a nut on there as tight as you
can make it. Probably no problem. Now take it off and lube it with motor
oil. Put it back on and try to break it. You can easily. Stainless steel is
even weaker. I always though a stainless steel U bolt should be really
strong, until I started doing a lot of tower work, and now realize how easy
it is to twist one apart. Actually it's difficult NOT to! Simply stated,
it's easier to apply excessive pressure to a greased bolt.

Another fact that many really overlook is on the drill press or metal
cutting bandsaw, don't use a petroleum  lubrication. The tool simply slips
and stops cutting. Use a cutting oil instead, it cools, without destroying
the grip of the tool. There is a certain amount of lubrication going on
also, it must be so, because the finished hole or cut is a lot smoother with
cutting oil.
In some of the factories that I serviced, they used a water based fluid, and
recycled it. Almost all holes and cuts are made wet in industry.

Let me remind you all that I'm not an engineer or anything like it. I'm a
typical Ham, and most of use operate by rules-of-thumb, and cut-and-try.
Also having said that let me further remind you that most of us don't want
to spend 10 hours designing something on the computer. We like to take our
time and build a proven design, and maybe modify it. Therefore, I for one
would like to see less references to " If you choose the proper core, and
design the windings with x-y-z in mind , then put that on you $12,000
spectrum analyzer etc... etc...." and MORE of " Take an Amidon FT-140-43 and
wind eight turns of wire on one side and 34 turns on the other side, it can
be used for 'this' purpose and have 'this' result". That's why the ARRL
handbook is so popular.

Likewise most of use don't care 2 cents if our PA tube went south because of
a gold-sputter or an ion pit. We just want someone to tell us what to do to
keep it from happening again.

That's just my opinion, but I like to see down to earth tips, and most of
the engineering arguments get dumped without reading them.

Geo>K0FF


>Your bit on not greasing bolt threads as it can allow excess tightning and
>failure of a bold is interesting.  Where is that printed?


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