On 12/21/11 8:00 AM, Richard Solomon wrote:
> A friend is putting up an LM-470 and asked about grounding it. Who
> makes the Ground Kit for
> the tower ? I have a couple of DX Engineering PPC-UNI-KIT-2CT kits,
> will they do ?
>
> Also, what's the name of those one-shot chemical "bombs" used to weld
> the ground cable to
> the ground rod ?
Exothermic Welding, generically..
Erico Cad-Weld is a very popular brand (OneShot is one of their models)
Thermoweld is another
UniShot is another
If you go to a electrical supply place, they'll carry one or more
brands. They'll also have the stuff you need to use it (some kinds have
a reusable mold and you load the charge in each time from a little
container). There are fancy igniters and such, as well. Do some
research (there's been stuff on this list over the years). I've used a
small torch to light them off, but I'm not sure that's actually recommended.
I've never seen this stuff at Home Depot or Lowes.. at least at the ones
I go to, but that doesn't mean that some don't carry them. You need to
go to somewhere that really caters to "trade".
You *could* make the stuff yourself, in the fine ham radio improvising
way. It's just thermite... Copper oxide and aluminum powder, piece of
magnesium ribbon as fuse works nicely.
What you are paying for with the commercial product is a nicely designed
mold and consistent mixing of the weld material. The commercial ones
also have a different mix at the ignition point to make it easier to
start (I'm going to guess some sort of black powder type mix.. a good
oxidizer and some fuel which gets good and hot, to get the metal
oxide-aluminum reaction going).
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