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

Sun Dec 15 01:47:57 CST 2013

I think paraffin treatment is overkill.  I you must build with wood 
just seal with marine varnish (works on boats!).  High-density 
polyethylene plastic boxes are way cheaper and long-lasting.  My 
truck too box is 24x 16x 12 inch with a cover with claps.  It cost 
about $25.  You will spend that on just the paraffin.

My current 600m base coil is in a plywood box which I painted with 
deck paint (now about 10-years old).

73, Ed

At 09:38 PM 12/14/2013, dick.bingham wrote:
>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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73, Ed - KL7UW
http://www.kl7uw.com
dubususa at gmail.com
"Kits made by KL7UW" 