[Mobile-Portable] Re: Tail Pipe Bonding

[Phil Atchley]

Hi Bill,

I chose to send this to the group as it might be of use to others out there.


> Phil,
> What material do you use for the strap that is tack welded to the tail
> Pipe?
>  Bill, N9CDX

In previous installs I've done it "cheap and dirty" using a stainless hose
clamp to clamp the braid to the tailpipe.  With old pipes that can lead to
poor connections.  However, this time I think I'll take Dick's advice and
have it spot welded or brazed.  This would be the first time I've done it
this way, but I think for this application I'd use one of those heavy duty
copper cable clamps on the end of the braid.  Similar to a heavy duty crimp
on "ring", but uses a setscrew/cable clamp instead of crimping.

It needs to be able to flex some as the tailpipe moves, so coax braid is a
good choice.  In fact, double coax braid would be a good idea and is easy to
implement.  You push the ends of the braid together so that it's a larger
diameter, pull on the other piece so it's "skinny", then insert one inside
the other.  After they're "mated" pushing and pulling them and then
flattening the whole thing will give you one nice piece of heavy duty braid.
Probably only needed where there is a lot of flexing (like hoods, tailpipe
etc).   When working at the CB shop I sometimes used a similar method when
trying to get a good ground for the mirror mounts on 18 wheelers, they can
be a 'real' pain and difficult to get a good "match" on.

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73 de Phil,  KO6BB
DX begins at the noise floor!

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