[Antennas] Fasteners for aluminum tubing

[Loren Moline WA7SKT]

Hello all,

I had a situation where I had some 1/2" aluminum tubing I wanted to use to build a certain antenna. The tubing is 3/8" ID. I thought about getting some 3/8 " solid rod to fasten inside that I could drill and tap so it could be bolted to something. Then I got an idea I would like to share.

I found some 3/8" anchors 1 7/8" long with threaded bolts with a wedge end. These have a 5/16" bolt and nut. These anchors had a ridge molded on the outside to keep them from turning in concrete so they wouldn't fit in the tubing.

I ground off these ridges and put some no-corode on the anchor and slipped it inside the tubing up to the nut. I found that when I tighten the nut the anchor holds solid in the tubing so I can bolt it to anything.

Also another thing I did today was bought some bolt on aluminum electrical lugs which are for bonding wires. I bought some with wire size holes just larger than 1/4". I plan on using them with 1/4" aluminum rod to hold radials for VHF and UHF ground-plane antennas.

Anyways these are my thoughts for the

 
Loren   WA7SKT

 
Member: ARRL and Pacific Northwest VHF Society
Member: Hearsat Satellite Monitoring Group
Location: CN86cx