This page contains tips which I've either learnt over the years, normally the hard way!
Getting a line over a tree for an antenna. Use a catapult (slingshot) with a light (10 pound) fishing line and a light weight - 1 ounce. The tendency is to use a heavier weight and a heavier line, but this won't get the line up as high as using a light weight and a light line!
Using Stainless Steel hardware for towers. In a word - DON'T. Stainless Steel has a lower Tensile Stength than than of high tensile carbon steel nuts and bolts, and will not provide the same level of performance. Use spun galvanised nuts and bolts to avoid rust.
Driving Ground Rods into the Ground. Instead of hitting the rod with a hammer, try using water! Find a piece of metal tubing, copper, aluminium, steel or whatever with an outside diameter which fits inside a garden hose and slightly longer than the length of the ground rod. Fit the tubing into the hose and secure with a hose clip. Turn on the water and start proding the ground with the end of the tubing. Providing the ground is a fairly typical soil, the rod will amazing quickly sink into the soil with very little effort on your part! I have only used this to depths of about 2 metres, but I have heard others going down 6 metres+ using this technique.
Drilling Copper. The main problem with drilling copper is that the copper work hardens very easily and it is essentially to remove the metal very quickly, failure to do this will cause the drill to snag and break. There are special drills made for drilling copper which have what is called a fast spiral. However they are normally available by order only in packs of 10 and are much more expensive than the standard "jobbers" drills. The silicone water dispersent WD40 works well as a cutting fluid, as does normal Milk!
Machining PTFE (Teflon). PTFE is a wonderful material to machine but need sharp tools. There are horror stories circulating about phosgene gas being given off by PTFE, but this will only happen at very high temperatures which are in reality impossible to achieve in a normal turning or drilling process. Remember that PTFE (Teflon) is used as a coating for cooking utensiles and you never hear of any cooks being gassed!
Making a work bench. In the UK kitchen worktop makes an excellent workbench, it's impervious to oils and other dirt, and is much harder wearing that you'd think!
Sheet Metal fixings. Most amateur fix aluminium sheets together using self tapping screws. Unfortunately, the holes are normally stripped of their threads after a couple of times of use. Try using "clinch" nuts. These are specially made nut with a shoulder which is placed into an accurately drilled hole. No special insertion tools are necessary, a normal bench vice can supply all the required pressure. As the clinch nut is forced home, the aluminium flows into the recesses in the clinch nut's shoulder, locking in it place permanently. You can then remove and replace screws to your heart's content!
Soldering Litz wire. Firstly the Litz wire should be with a self fluxing insulation, i.e. one which will decompose with the heat from solder. If it's not self fluxing - you've got a problem. The tip to get the litz wire to tin is to ensure that molten solder is applied to the the metalic ends of the individual strands within the wire. This will ensure that the strand heat up and the wire tins. Trying to apply the soldering iron directly to the enamel insulation won't work. For large wires, a small solder pot is ideal. Solder can be easily melted on a domestic stove, or even in a very hot oven. Simply dip the litz wire into the solder pot containing the molten solder and the wire is tinned is a matter of a few seconds. No scrapping of the separate strands is required!
Welding Aluminium. In the UK BOC manufacture a product called "Technoweld". This is not really for aluminium welding but brazing and only required a blowlamp, either propane, butane or kerosine (parrafin). Clean the areas to be jointed, and heat the aluminium up, and simply apply the Technoweld rod as if it were ordinary tin-lead solder. Technoweld does not flow easily so some agitation of the molten rod helps. Leave to cool and the joint is made. It requires a little practise to get the right amount of heat into the aluminium, but it does work very well.
Buying Second-hand Machine Tools. Second hand machine tools can be a bargain. As traditional industries close down, there is very little value in non CNC (computer numerical controlled) machine tools. But beware, there's a lot of very poor quality tools out there. Unless you are absolutely sure of the supplier, always go and look at the items before purchasing. And if necessary take a friend with some experience or knowledge of the industry.
Page last updated 11/8/2002