I think we have another thread de-railed by the wanna-be scientist debating
society. Who gives a shit if silver is better then copper? Or vice versa?
In all the years I've been building and scrapping equipment, I've yet to
see anything built from chemically pure copper or silver.
Tanks, cavities, enclosures, whatever, are built from brass, aluminum, and
(yuck) steel for cost considerations. Once you get the parts fabricated
cheap, it's easy to give them a silver flash. When you do plating in the
appropriate thickness it's almost the same cost copper or silver. So what
the heck, plate it with silver and impress the natives.
What do I do? I don't plate anything. I try to use soft copper when I can.
Polish it up and spray it with Krylon or Urethane if I have the time.
Sometimes I just use what's laying on the bench. If the brass or aluminum
starts turning red when I put the power to it, I either use something else
or make it bigger! I actually used galvanized fence wire in a tank once
just to see what happened.
What it all comes down to is doing what make you feel good and ignoring
what the wanna-be scientists are doing in the debating society
techno-duels. In the case of some, do what makes your boss feel good instead.
73,
Larry - W7IUV
w7iuv@arrl.net
http://www.axtek.com/w7iuv
Amp pix at http://207.108.137.61
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