[TowerTalk] Rusty tower

[Jeff Goldman]

I remember a friend had a Rohn HDBX-48 foot tower many years ago, and 
he went to have it re-galvanized.  ( I think that the bottom part of a 
Hy-Gain Hy-Tower is the same kind of tower).  Anyway, when he was done, 
all he had was a pile of scrap metal.  It turns out that the tower was 
steel, but the rivets that held everything together were aluminum.  And 
when they dipped the tower sections in the HOT galvanizing metal, the 
aluminum rivets melted, and the tower fell apart.  You might want to 
check this out before you send your tower off to be galvanized.

73,
Jeff, K3DUA



On Dec 19, 2004, at 12:40 AM, Jim Lux wrote:

> Unless you have much, much more time than money, start calling 
> "galvanizing"
> in the yellow pages.  Some galvanizing places only take nice clean 
> stuff,
> but others will take beat on, rusty stuff and sandblast/wirebrush/hot 
> tank
> it before galvanizing.  It's surprisingly reasonable (unless your time 
> is
> truly free... the folks they hire to do this unpleasant tedious work 
> are at
> minimum wage or thereabouts).  Most places will also pick up and 
> deliver for
> a nominal (few tens of $) fee (unless you're hundreds of miles away).
> Galvanizers charge by the weight of what they are galvanizing (not the 
> price
> of the zinc, or anything that would make sense...nope.. they just hang 
> the
> widget from a scale and drop it into the tank...)
>
> Expect to spend some time calling around.. there IS a difference 
> between
> places, and they all have their specialties..  Some have a limited 
> length
> tank, and can't dip something like a 40 foot I-beam, and others can.
>
> By the way, the whole process is one of those "furnaces of hell" sort 
> of
> things.  Quite impressive if you've never seen a huge pit full of 
> molten
> metal.
>
> Jim, W6RMK.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Van Fair" <giw at bellsouth.net>
> To: <towertalk at contesting.com>
> Sent: Saturday, December 18, 2004 7:48 PM
> Subject: [TowerTalk] Rusty tower
>
>
> I am ready to start the project of restoring an old Hy Gain  HyTower. 
> It has
> a number of surface rust spots on about 30% of the galvanized surface.
> Anyone have experience in removing the rust and know a better way than 
> the
> Steel brush. Any suggestions on what to paint it with all over once 
> the rust
> is gone. Thanks for your help.    Van W4GIW
>
>
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>
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