galvanized ?????

[BOOTY MONSTER]

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​

I got a "double nut" once. I was young then, but I digress...

.

ive had triples and even a couple of quads ...........................
but not anymore !!!!! LOL

 

[GLR]

You shouldn't use the words nuts and ass in the same sentence, doh! now you have me doing it.

BALLS

 

[loosecannon]

towerdog, Captain Kilowatt didnt say that professional riggers use SS; he said that they use a better grade of galvanized hardware, which is true.

and yes, stainless can really suck to work with, especially when it gets hot.
i know what you mean about the breaking, but im sure you will agree that its more of a "twist" than a "snap".

i also do a fair amount of rigging, but its all indoors. LOL

we out here on the west side of the country are hip with nylocks, but the east coast guys are still die hard lock washer users.
the most important thing is that neither should ever be re-used.
(even though they are all the time LOL)
LC

 

[ONAWHIM]

ive had triples and even a couple of quads ...........................
but not anymore !!!!! LOL

Who are you, frickin' Superman?





.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

towerdog, Captain Kilowatt didnt say that professional riggers use SS; he said that they use a better grade of galvanized hardware, which is true.

and yes, stainless can really suck to work with, especially when it gets hot.
i know what you mean about the breaking, but im sure you will agree that its more of a "twist" than a "snap".

i also do a fair amount of rigging, but its all indoors. LOL

we out here on the west side of the country are hip with nylocks, but the east coast guys are still die hard lock washer users.
the most important thing is that neither should ever be re-used.
(even though they are all the time LOL)
LC

I guess I missed towerdogs post so thanks loosecannon for the correction. i did indeed say that I like stainless hardware on my antennas and towers and that professional riggers use a much better grade of galvanized hardware than is typically picked up at the hardware store but installations at a couple hundred feet and the reliability factor is far different in the commercial/broadcast industry and certainly of a far different nature of installation than for a "simple" ham tower.

We also use stainless all the time at work due to the constant submersion in various chemicals. We use tons of 5/16 hex head machine screws that are removed with a small air impact gun and installed using a Makita cordless battery powered impact driver. Sometimes we are threading them into stainless steel and sometimes solid brass or bronze.I know all about the galling and seizing. It usually results in the bolt being twisted off no matter how hard you try to not let that happen. The more you work the bolt back and forth in the hole to extract it the more it heats up and is likely to seize and break. We also have a no reuse policy on the split lock washers we use on the 5/8 and 3/4 stainless bolts we use and we actually follow it.

 

[Kamikaze]

wrong, us professional riggers hate stainless, we curse it whenever we run into it. its crap, it siezes up when its torqued down, threads stretch making loosenig it an exercise of hell. btw we break it too when installing it, is brittle.

those bolts are cadmium plated, not as bad as stainless to work with but the next best thing to useless against rust. is alright if you coat it in cold galvanization spray like rustoleum or preferably Zinc-Clad from Sherwin Williams.

Do yourself, your tower and everyone else in the world a favor and get hot-dipped. There is no substitute for hot dipped, you can even find hot dipped at Lowes and Fastenal, its dull grey with no shine, and rough.

I'm with Towerdog. Stainless sucks for re-use.

I spray all my stuff with cold galvanizing compound. It does need a touchup every couple of years but it beats hauling the tower for a re-dip.

Lockwashers and nylon locks don't do it for me either. Just double nut everything.

 

[GnG8d]

1We also use stainless all the time at work due to the constant submersion in various chemicals. We use tons of 5/16 hex head machine screws that are removed with a small air impact gun and installed using a Makita cordless battery powered impact driver. Sometimes we are threading them into stainless steel and sometimes solid brass or bronze.I know all about the galling and seizing. It usually results in the bolt being twisted off no matter how hard you try to not let that happen. The more you work the bolt back and forth in the hole to extract it the more it heats up and is likely to seize and break. We also have a no reuse policy on the split lock washers we use on the 5/8 and 3/4 stainless bolts we use and we actually follow it.

I don't know if you have ever tried it, but a tube of anti-sieze in your pocket might be a real life saver. By rights, even steel bolts should be lubed if torqing to proper spec.

 

[ONAWHIM]

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Another rule of thumb, especially when using nylon stop nuts.

Have at minimum 1 complete thread of penetration through the nut.
I say this for nylon but it should apply to all nuts.

I have seen many a product where the nylon wasn't completely penetrated.

William

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

I don't know if you have ever tried it, but a tube of anti-sieze in your pocket might be a real life saver. By rights, even steel bolts should be lubed if torqing to proper spec.

Actually we use this stuff and it is better but still not 100% seize free.

Technical Products - 725 / 772

 

[GnG8d]

Actually we use this stuff and it is better but still not 100% seize free.

Technical Products - 725 / 772

You wouldn't want something nickel based to use on a high nickel alloy I wouldn't think.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

It's recommended for: • Steel
• Stainless steel
• Iron
• Aluminum
• Copper
• Brass
• Titanium

This list pretty much describes what we work with. We use stainless steel machine screws in stainless steel, brass and bronze and use an alloy marketed by Lawson Products as Supertanium on cast iron. The Supertanium bolts are very high grade and we very rarely break one even when using air impact drivers on them at least once a week. I believe they have something like a minimum of 200,000 lbs tensile strength.

 

[BOOTY MONSTER]

well , i had to change some things and when i went to take off the SS 1/4 inch hardware it felt like they were stuck . i did use a good amount of force when i tightened them , but definitely not a gorilla grip . i did have to use a gorilla grip to get the nut to back off a thread or two and it felt even tighter , but the connection had loosened ... and a few of them snapped . from what i can tell by this thread this is only a issue when they are dissembled , that if they dont snap when installing that they are good to go . also from what i can tell from this thread for antenna projects the #5 hardware would be fine too .

thanks to everyone that contributed to this thread

 

[Beetle]

.

Another rule of thumb, especially when using nylon stop nuts.

Have at minimum 1 complete thread of penetration through the nut.
I say this for nylon but it should apply to all nuts.

I have seen many a product where the nylon wasn't completely penetrated.

William

Ah, but "penetration, however slight, is sufficient .... " (UCMJ).

 

[Kamikaze]

Elastic stop nuts are OK until you need to re-use them.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Elastic stop nuts are OK until you need to re-use them.

That's why you don't reuse them, just like split lock washers. Replace them, don't reuse them. We must go through a couple hundred pounds of lock washers a year at work because they are never reused.