[Antennas] Fasteners

[Milt Jensen at N5IA]

Actually, the squashing of the tubular legs with the through bolts is NOT
recommended.  This action will cause a permanent deformation of the legs
which creates at least two problems; 1, the sections will be nearly
impossible to separate when disassembly is desired, and 2, deformation to
this extent will most likely cause the hot dip galvanized coating to crack
with obvious results.

The previous posts making reference to the bolts being part of the overall
structure plan, i.e., when the bolts are properly applied and tensioned,
cause the tower structure to act as ONE solid member, are correct.  The
vertical gravitational forces AND the logitudinal forces which are
translated to vertical forces by the guy wires are then applied equally to
the tower base through all three legs.

My layman's dos centavos.  Greetings to the reflectorees.  Milt, N5IA
____________________________________________________

> The bolts are not supposed to be load bearing, the bolts cause the
> two sections of tubing to grip each other, the outer (upper) leg is
> supposed to be squashed oval to accomplish this.  If you don't have
> bolts the sections can creep into the one above from time, weight
> and vibration and they may not come apart when instructed to do so.
>    The design calls for bolts, used bolts.
>
>         73 (= Best Regards) de: Ron ka4inm@tampabay.rr.com
>      100% LINUX, since July, 1997   SENT Time and Date are UTC
>         Visit my HAM Web SITE at: http://www.qsl.net/ka4inm