[TowerTalk] Rusty tower

[Tom Anderson]

Jim, et. al:

One of the companies in our family owned corporation used to be 
Riverside Industries of Tulsa OK, Provo UT, and Fort Worth TX.  They 
made huge high voltage electrical transmission towers. The Fort Worth 
plant also had a large 300+ ft. tall "test bed" (yes it was lighted per 
the FAA) where towers would be assembled and cables attached and then 
the tower stressed to whatever design limits the customer wanted.  The 
tests would usually stress a design to the point where it ripped apart 
just to see what it would take, usually far in excess of design specs.

Several times while I was in college and later I was asked to take 
photos of the plants for in house use and annual reports.

All three plants had several large open tanks where large pieces of 
steel that were to be assembled into towers were dipped during 
galvanizing.  The galvanizing process is a several step operation. 
There were a couple near boiling point "pickling baths" of various 
acids, etc. that dissolved, neutralized, etc. any rust, corrosion, dirt, 
etc. on the steel.  You had to leave these steel sections in the picking 
and neutralization baths long enough to heat them up.  To drop a piece 
of cold (temperature) steel into the galvanizing zinc solution meant 
risking the zinc "explode" showering the area with bits of what had been 
molten zinc.  I was never there when this happened, but I saw the 
results of someone not heating the steel enough by all of the 
galvanizing splatters on the inside of the building.  It could be a real 
mess.  State and local EPA officials were real particular how we 
disposed of the pickling materials when the plant(s) drained and 
refilled them with new chemicals.  Also the pickling materials could 
really open up your sinuses if you got too close.

I know actually very little technically about the galvanizing process 
since I was a newspaper reporter/photographer. I just related what the 
employees and foremen in the plant told me when I'd visit there, since I 
also had to occasionally write stories for the company employee 
newspaper and annual report.

Tom, WW5L



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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