N. S. FIRESTONE wrote:
>Is there a pourable lubricant that is heavier than water? My rotatable,
>tubular tower is resting on a two inch tapered roller bearing at the
>bottom of an eight inch steel casing. The bottom of this casing is six
>feet below grade. I have half inch pipe outside of the casing to an
>elbow and welded into the bottom of the case to draw off water that
>eventually accumulates down there. I think that I never eliminate or pull
>out all of the water and there always is some water at the bottom of the
>cylinder. The roller bearing is raised off of the very bottom on a welded
>up steel fixture but It would be comforting to know that all of the water
>has been displaced by lubricant. Any thoughts on this chemistry rather
>than electronic/mechanical problem?
I have a similar system on the EME antenna, except that the weight is
taken in two PTFE-lined flanges above ground, so the underground bearing
only deals with sideways forces so there is very little to go wrong down
there... which is just as well.
The whole thing runs in about a gallon of "Waxoyl", a thick slushy wax-
oil compound (surprise) which contains corrosion inhibitors and also
repels water. It is sold mainly for rust protection of auto body shells,
so I suppose there is something similar on the US market.
As far as I know this is working OK, but don't propose to lift the whole
rotating system out to check!
Waxoyl is also a very useful for long-term thread protection on non-
stainless U-bolts etc. The oil evaporates, leaving the wax which both
protects the threads and locks the nuts against vibration.
73 from Ian G3SEK Editor, 'The VHF/UHF DX Book'
'In Practice' columnist for RadCom (RSGB)
http://www.ifwtech.demon.co.uk/g3sek
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