Message 23091 in TECH.WW
From: G8MNY
Date: Tue, 26 May 26 06:51:00 Z
Newsgroups: TECH.WW
Subject: Casting Lead Throwing Weights
Message-ID: <60788_GB7CIP>
Path: N2MH4|GB7BED|GB7YEW|GB7CIP
R:260526/0652Z 31672@N2MH4.#SENC.NC.USA.NOAM LinBPQ6.0.24
R:260526/0652Z 11954@GB7BED.#21.GBR.EU LinBPQ6.0.25
R:260526/0651Z 18893@GB7YEW.#79.GBR.EURO LinBPQ6.0.24
R:260526/0651Z @:GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EURO #:60788 [Caterham Surrey GBR]
From: G8MNY@GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EURO
To : TECH@WW
By G8MNY (new Jul 09)
(8 Bit ASCII graphics use code page 437 or 850, Terminal Font)
The other day setting up an HF aerials for a club demo station, I broke one of
my lead throwing weights after it hit concrete ground too hard.....
TWIRLING (Slingless shot)
This method uses stronger line & heavier weight. A weight > 100gm, e.g. a 200gm
plumb bob is tied to nylon cord (make sure the fixing is very good & will not
pull out!) & you twirl this around in a vertical manner in line with the target
with a metre or so of line. Your hand needs protection & a leather glove must
be worn. As there is danger of 'miss fire' is you let go at the wrong time,
make sure other people & cars etc. are well clear!
M E D I U M twirl dia
T R E E . o. are more important. Make sure
|| / \ Line laid out going to get entangled.
I have put lines into trees at 18M with this method. Due to the heavy weight,
tree grabbing of the line is not a problem, except for miss fires where the
shot has to be pulled out from the wrong branch etc. In that case beware of
knotting the cord around a branch!
Often a high shot is best coming down in the tree if you can't reach the other
side of the tree!
=============================================================================
The original weight was 1.5cm square cross section 4cm long with point ends &
had an embedded copper looped end, This soon came out, so I drilled a hole..
_________ _________
And of course this is where it broke.
Hammer Holding the lead remains in
However the 1st attempt was poor with the cold lead not bonding well & little
bit came out, not 1 strong solid piece!
For the 2nd attempt I warmed the mold up as I melted the scrap bits and also
added solder flux, this encouraged the molten lead casting to adhere to itself
better.
I repeated the previous removal scheme but used a much bigger punch rod so as
not to flatten (wedge) the lead in the mold. I found centre of the piece looked
good, but the ends were poor. As I wanted rounded end (to slip through trees
easily) I went about hot reshaping the ends.
The trick I soon found was to judge the Paper /~~\
to just wet the surface.
I was pleased with the result, not a masterpiece, but good and strong enough to
take another drilled hole & possibly a few more drops onto concrete!
See my TECH bul on "Tree Antenna Sky Hooks"
Why Don't U send an interesting bul?
73 De John, G8MNY @ GB7CIP
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