[Antennas] Cleaning Grungy Aluminum

[Chris Boone]

One thing I have used in the past, especially on a DB420 UHF rptr antenna
that was on the TX Gulf Coast and covered heavily with alum oxide, was
diluted hydroflouric acid used to clean air conditioning condensor coils. It
foams up and can be easily rinsed off...the DB420 I had was almost WHITE
with caked on oxide...I removed the dipole elements and dunked them in a
bucket with the solution (I did make it less diluted than the instructions
called for because of the heavy caking but was still more than 2:1 in the
mix)...it DID foam up and thru the element and then I let them hang over a
BIG tub of water so the overflow would drip into it and not directly onto
the ground (this also diluted it to legal levels for run off)...then I
rinsed each element several times with clean water...(sometimes excess foam
would come out)..after a day or so of doing this to all 16 elements, making
sure they were completely rinsed and dried in the sun, I reassembled the
antenna..worked like a champ and LOOKED new...it has been on the tower now
for 10+ years and still looks in great condition (the current location is
about 100miles inland..not on the coast as it was before I got them)

You can use any coil/condensor cleaner...but it may not get a lot of the
crud off or it may require scrubbing, etc..
There are plenty of products on the market that can do it...depends on HOW
clean you want the elements...

I did get my bottle of HFL acid at a local plumber supply warehouse (at the
time I was working for a public utility and they didn't require any special
paperwork from me)...today with EPA, etc you may have a harder time getting
it as John Q Public...

Chris
WB5ITT

> -----Original Message-----
> From: antennas-bounces at mailman.qth.net 
> [mailto:antennas-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of John Kemker
> Sent: Saturday, June 17, 2006 4:34 PM
> To: Antennas at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [Antennas] Cleaning Grungy Aluminum
> 
> Was given a Mosley TA-33 by another ham.  It's mostly there, 
> but in dire need of some TLC in cleaning.  Lots of grunge, 
> some surface corrosion, etc. on the aluminum.  Anybody have 
> any suggestions for a quick way to knock off the crud and get 
> the aluminum down to a usable state?  Doesn't have to be 
> bright and shiny, but needs to not look like crud.  I can 
> clean the electrically important parts by hand with a 
> Scotch-Brite pad and some Aluminum Jelly prior to spreading 
> some Ox-Gard compound between the joints before reassembly.  
> I just don't like all the "aluminum psoriasis" covering the parts.
> 
> --JohnK
> 73 de W5NNH