[600MRG] Fwd: Some advice needed...as usual

Sun Dec 15 00:38:23 CST 2013

Hi Pat

Your concerns about FIRE are extremely valid. . . For the same reasons I use a large baking tray on an outside burner (Coleman stove/Turkey-boiler/Beer-brewing heater) loaded with several "bars" of Safeway-brand paraffin brought-to-boiling as evidenced by bubbles pouring out of the wood.

One package of canning-wax from Safeway would probably handle most jobs but NOT 3-foot on a side sized structures. In the past I have made colored kiddie-toys with food coloring and allowed the blocks to "dry-out" before boiling them in the Paraffin. This eliminates the need to paint anything. Makes a lasting family present too. All my antenna insulators are made the same way (like the old-timers did it.)

Dick

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> On Dec 14, 2013, at 10:15 PM, "Pat Hamel" <pehamel at cableone.net> wrote:
> 
> Dick,
> The paraffin my folks used to seal jellies and jams was always kept in a
> double-boiler with a lid and extinguisher handy in case the vapors caught
> fire.
> A box three or four feet on a side to hold the relays, large coil, terminal
> boards, limit switches, low-pass, and drive motor would require a washtub to
> lay the boards into to boil them.
> The cost for the paraffin (if you can find any) would exceed the large
> plastic enclosure. The fire risk would be very high.
> But, then we have different experience and fears, we may be talking about
> different grades of wax.
> -=-=-=-
> If anyone is in need of a simple two-wire circuit for controlling the coil
> motor, I have one.
> 73,
> Pat /6
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: 600MRG [mailto:600mrg-bounces at w7ekb.com] On Behalf Of dick.bingham
> Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2013 11:50 PM
> To: Laurence KL7 L
> Cc: <600mrg at w7ekb.com>
> Subject: Re: [600MRG] Fwd: Some advice needed...as usual
> 
> Greetings all
> 
> Regarding ===> "I think the wooden box Mike mentioned is also good,
> especially if you can paint and seal it to prevent if from retaining water.
>>>> 
>>>> 73 and good luck!v
>>>> John XIQ
> "
> 
> One process I know about personally is boiling wood in Paraffin to make
> wooden things virtually inert to weathering. Way back around 1985 I boiled a
> top-plate side-thrust bearing for the top of my Rohn-25 tower using 1-inch
> thick interior-grade plywood. I drilled the hole for the mast and attachment
> bolt-holes in the wood and boiled it in Paraffin for about 30-minutes.
> 
> Today, neatly 30-years later after being out in the wx (coastal salt
> air/dry-ID/wet-WA), it looks as nice as the day it was fabricated.
> 
> I would think a box built to your specifications, screwed together and
> boiled in Paraffin on all six sides will outlive its fabricator. Prior to
> boiling in Paraffin the edges of the four pieces to which the cover is
> attached can be routed-out to make a recess into which an RTV-bead could be
> squirted to make a perfect gasket for the final assembly.
> 
> One might have to experiment a bit to see if a better moisture seal results
> from dis-assembling the box and boiling each of the six pieces in paraffin
> and then re-assembling it using RTV between each joint OR assembling the box
> and boiling each box surface and counting on the resulting wax seal at each
> joint.
> 
> Just a thought . . .
> 
> 73 de Dick/w7wkr CN98pi and CN97uj
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
> 
>>> On Dec 14, 2013, at 8:57 PM, Laurence KL7 L
>> <hellozerohellozero at hotmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> From: Laurence KL7 L <hellozerohellozero at hotmail.com>
>>> Date: December 14, 2013 at 6:41:32 PM HST
>>> To: John Langridge <jlangridge at sbcglobal.net>
>>> Subject: Re: [600MRG] Some advice needed...as usual
>>> 
>>> Blue Rubbermaid here too - with no mods or coatings - its been in and
> outside since 2005 and still plyable. I reinforced the base with a plastic
> cutting board as the coupler for 137 weighs around 45 pounds. The occasional
> bug gets in but stayed dry inside - i need a little ventilation which the
> clip lid does for me.
>>> 
>>> Laurence KL7L in KH6
>>> 
>>>> On Dec 14, 2013, at 2:55 PM, "John Langridge" <jlangridge at sbcglobal.net>
> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Hi Kenneth,
>>>> 
>>>> I am using a 54 gallon rubbermaid tub from Walmart.  It has a latching
> lid, which is important when it gets windy.
>>>> 
>>>> You can look at a lot of the larger rubbermaid products here:
> http://www.rubbermaid.com/Category/Pages/SubCategoryLanding.aspx?SubcatId=Ro
> ughneck&CatName=Storage
>>>> 
>>>> I think you could make it all fit in one of these.  In my case, the
> motor for the vario is an antenna rotator and I have it outside of the box
> with a shaft that goes through a grommet into the box to turn the coil.  I
> had enough room looking back to put that rotator in my box but just left it
> outside.
>>>> 
>>>> My box has several coats of krylon as well as a UV protector... I don't
> know how these plastics will work in your persistent and extreme cold wx but
> down here in the heat they seem to work well and they are waterproof.
>>>> 
>>>> Another option that I considered before the rubbermaid tub was a sealing
> and locking patio garden tool box.  I think the big box home improvement
> stores carry these and they are basically the same size as the rubbermaid
> tube but has a hinged top that seals and locks.
>>>> 
>>>> I think I paid $25 for my rubbermaid tub and the garden tool box was
> over $150 for the cheap one..
>>>> 
>>>> I think the wooden box Mike mentioned is also good, especially if you
> can paint and seal it to prevent if from retaining water.
>>>> 
>>>> 73 and good luck!
>>>> 
>>>> John XIQ
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> ________________________________
>>>> From: Kenneth G. Gordon <kgordon2006 at frontier.com>
>>>> To: 600MRG at w7ekb.com 
>>>> Sent: Saturday, December 14, 2013 5:25 PM
>>>> Subject: [600MRG] Some advice needed...as usual
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> OK. I need to install a remote antenna tuner. The unit I am building 
>>>> is pretty big, but will do the job.
>>>> 
>>>> The advice I need from you kind folks is, what sort of container can 
>>>> you suggest that will be water-tight and yet easily opened to work 
>>>> in?
>>>> 
>>>> Some sort of plastic picnic basket or somethin' ?
>>>> 
>>>> To fill you in a little bit: The rotary coil I am using is out of the 
>>>> BC-939 antenna tuner that originally was part of the BC-610 
>>>> transmitting setup.
>>>> 
>>>> Since the coil is quite large and somewhat difficult to turn, I am 
>>>> using an old satellite TV dish mover and control to operate it.
>>>> 
>>>> There will also be two fairly large relays in the box.
>>>> 
>>>> The coil is 14" long, 9" wide and 8" high and has 1/2" thick ceramic 
>>>> end-plates. The satellite TV dish-mover has a gear-motor (with 
>>>> position sensors) that is 3" wide, 5" tall, and about 9" deep with 
>>>> the shaft sticking out of it.
>>>> 
>>>> So, overall length with the drive attached to the coil will be on the 
>>>> order of 23".
>>>> 
>>>> Ideas?
>>>> 
>>>> As soon as I can get my large base-loading coil finished (8" diameter 
>>>> PVC and about 600 mH), I'll need to be able to switch that into and 
>>>> out of the base of my 55' vertical.
>>>> 
>>>> I intend to use the BC-939 coil in series with the big coil to enable 
>>>> me to QSY a bit at 630 meters.
>>>> 
>>>> Ken W7EKB
>>>> 
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