[TowerTalk] Swaging tool suggestions

[Grant Saviers]

There are many choices of wall thicknesses shown in the onlinemetals.com 
listing of 6061 tube.  .028 .035 .049 .058 .065 .083 and larger.  Not 
all wall thicknesses are available in all diameters.

Plus, they and McMaster have some sizes of IPS pipe in schedule 10, 20, 
40, and 80.  All with the standard pipe series OD and different wall 
thickness and thus different ID.  I used some sch10 6061 from McM as a 
sleeve in the W6NL Moxon build.  Be aware that IPS pipe tolerances are 
not as tight as tubing.

Both Online and McM sell short lengths.  Some web research and mix and 
match selections might get very close to the needed sleeve thickness.

Then there is very heavy wall 6061 tube, 0.25 thru 1.0+ thick.  So most 
any sleeve can be machined on a home shop lathe.  My 3" 0.125 wall x 48 
ft booms have joiner sleeves OD machined from .375 wall 3" tube.

So that is a lot of choices to mix and match for any random sleeve.  If 
the wall is correct and the id/od is off a small amount then slit the 
tube lengthwise and expand or contract it to fit.

A small error in fit ( < 0.03) won't matter much if the W6NL cross bolt 
fastening is used as that compresses the tube in two planes.  Slit tubes 
with hose clamps can't generate enough force unless there are very close 
fits.  Very tight fits assembly (line to line or dents) can be overcome 
with liberal use of Penetrox or NeverSeez, a wood block on the end and a 
mallet.  Never assemble tight fits without them, the aluminum will gall 
and weld together.  A "test fit" might end with 4 letter words.

Grant KZ1W

On 3/17/2020 06:08, Tom Hellem wrote:
> Kirby-
> One way to avoid swaging is to use  intermediate  short piece or pieces of
> standard tubing sizes
> as sleeves to neck down from your larger size to the smaller. This works
> if the original
> tubing and the sleeves are .058 wall thickness. I have done it many times
> with no issues.
> 
> Tom
> K0SN
> 
> On Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 9:47 PM KIRBY NESBITT <k.nesbitt at shaw.ca> wrote:
> 
>> I'm getting ready to refurbish an HF beam (Force 12) once/if the snow ever
>> melts, and am going to have to replace a section of one element. Has anyone
>> found a relatively inexpensive swaging tool for aluminum tubing?All that's
>> showing up on my search is some fairly heavy duty industrial style
>> equipment. Only looking to do two joints on the one element so don't want
>> to invest allot of money into a fancy piece of equipment.Regards,Kirb -
>> VE6IV
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