[TowerTalk] Re-bar Cage - welding ??

[Dr M J DiGirolamo]

Hi Dan,

  As prep in the building my rebar cage 3 or 4 years ago I did a lot of
research about rebar.  I was erecting the 72' heavy duty USTower unit and
wanted to use a Ufer ground system employing the rebar cage.   I called and
discussed it with the metal dealer who explained that weldable rebar is made
of a more controlled type of steel mix.  The cost was only slightly higher
than standard rebar.  A friend of mine who was the master welder at our
local nuclear power facility welded it together using a MIG unit.  It went
together just fine -- all weld joints were solid with adequate penetration.
The idea of having welded joints when using a Ufer ground is to reduce the
possibility of arcing within the concrete.  I have a several photos of the
cage if you're interested.  Just send me a note with your email address.  My
rebar supplier was B&G Metals in Richmond, VA.

Regards,

Mike DiGirolamo, W4XN
Mike at W4XN.com
Charlottesville, VA 

-----Original Message-----
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2010 12:32:34 -0700 (PDT)
From: Dan Bookwalter <n8dcj at yahoo.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Re-bar Cage - welding ??
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Message-ID: <931863.92677.qm at web34207.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I recall some discussion many years ago regarding welding re-bar , i do not
remember if the consensus was you shouldn't or you can ??

Also , since I got my TX-472 about 8 years ago they have changed the re-bar
cage configuration , anyone know why ? i assume they must have discovered
the old one was inadequate or some jurisdictions didn't like it ?

Dan N8DCJ

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