[TowerTalk] Aluminum Boom Lubricant: Yes or Nope?

[Steve Harrison]

On 8/17/2025 11:18 AM, Jim Lux wrote:
> As for aluminum tubing to aluminum tubing - the question would be whether you make electrical contact (which is needed in an antenna). But conceivably, you only need a few small points of electrical contact, while most of the contact is for mechanical reasons. So a coating of something like t-tape (not quite all of the joint covered), would help it break free for disassembly, but leave some (which might bond) for the electrical connection.

The main problem here is with old yagis, the boom-tubing ends are often 
distorted during disassembly, and no longer slide into one another 
cleanly. I've got one right now that I'll try to "round" up better with 
large slip-joint pliers; but the tubing has so little clearance to one 
another as it is (a thousandth mil, maybe 1.5, but often less or 
interference-fit) that PTFE tape will merely be scraped off. Perhaps if 
you hang the PTFE tape strip lengthwise along the boom...  But what if, 
upon disassembly, the PTFE balls up inside the tubing and effectively 
jams the two tubings together??

And if the tubing is already so loosely-fitting that PTFE tape over the 
swaged end will slide neatly inside the larger piece, then you likely 
don't need anything to begin with!

Steve, K0XP