I did some work in the lathe. First yesterday I did some fitting for SM2OAN that he will use on his winch which turned out pretty well made in brass. Today I did some work in steel which I have not done since I was 14 years old, some 17 years ago, but after some help from a colleague it went well. The gear for the military tower project has got an inner diameter of 60mm and the inner diameter of the worm gear for the rotor has got 30mm so I need to make a transfer between those two dimensions. I will also put a bearing on the top side of it so the stress on the worm gear is reduced.
House work and visit from SM0CXU/PY2ZXU
This week some carpentry was done at the station but it went rather slow and I ran out of material, so my neighbour will saw up some more for me so I can continue. SM2XJP son came out and helped us a bit and SM2XJP both removed some of the old paneling on the house and also fixed the 2m GP so now we are QRV on 2m again.
SM0CXU who does originate from SM2 came and visited with his brother in law, his wife and his sister and it was a very pleasant visit. SM0CXU normally lives in PY and has got the call PY2ZXU. They also had a dog with them who looked almost exactly like our old dog Bishop except this dog Enzo was a bit bigger.
Category: Work weekend |
Some antenna parts finished
Today I finished up the antenna parts for the 40m element plates. So left to do before we can send them away to get galvanized is making the attachment plates for the two 40m yagis, two 20m yagis and the 30m yagi as well. I need to measure a bit on the tower where I will position them, since the top 10m tapers in a bit I need to get the bolt pattern correct for the height they should be placed at. Also some details are left to be done on the 40m tower base, such as attaching the rotor after I’ve gotten the plate from SM2UVU.
I wish I did get hold of cheap stainless steel clamps for all the antennas but unfortunately they are just too expensive so I will go with the galvanized ones. It would be OK if it was just one antenna, but now with 5 of them the cost gets too high. Those clamps hold anyway but it’s a bit boring when things rust. I might put some coating on them.
Anybody have a MIG welder lying around that they don’t use? I really need one…
Category: Uncategorized |
Building antenna hardware contd.
Today I continued my work on the fabrication of the antenna hardware. I drilled the hole pattern in the 40m element plates and also welded the element guy support. I would not really need vertical guylines on the 40m elements because they are made from 60mm tubing in the middle, but it’s pretty much for free to add it and then it should hold up for more snow or ice loading if disaster strikes.
Category: Uncategorized |