On 10/14/2011 6:55 AM, Cqtestk4xs@aol.com wrote:
> When I had about a dozen side mounted antennas I thought the cost of
> thrust bearings would wind up costing about $1000 or more. My solution, at
> least for the lighter beams was to use the PVC toilet flange cut for two
> inches. I made a "sandwich" from two of them back to back connected by a
> very
> short piece of PVC. The top plate was the "meat" of the sandwich.
Mine were a bit more simple. I simply reamed out a "T" so the rotating
part of the side arm was a slip fit and ran them dry. Yes, they ended
up with some surface rust on the cast iron "T's"but they worked fine
even if they didn't look all that great. With the side arm mounted on a
2' extension it gave almost 260 to 280 degrees of rotation.
>
> Of course, the "thrust bearing" could not be tightened around the mast,
> but that was not an issue since the mast was short and the beams were light.
> I successfully used this setup for small tribanders and up to 6 element
> 10 meter beams for years at my old QTH. By the way, total cost was around
> five bucks from your local Home Depot. The price probably has gone up but
> it surely beats paying $140 for a Rohn t-bearing..especially for small
> beams.
I've pretty much sworn off those as so many better alternatives (that
cost far less) have been listed on here in just the last week. Terry's
suggestion is far superior to even the Yaesu thrust bearing, which at
least runs smooth and looks good.
The same company makes a pillow block mount which would work well for
these side mounts.
A little machining for a mount and wheel bearings make outstanding
thrust bearings.
73
Roger (K8RI)
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