One possible solution would be to soak the "stuck" joints a solution of sodium hydroxide (lye, as in drain cleaner). There's a web site that discusses the chemical reaction and the ability of lye to dissolve existing layers of aluminum oxide. See:
http://www2.uni-siegen.de/~pci/versuche/english/v44-10.html The site says, in part: A layer of aluminum oxide previously formed by passive corrosion is dissolved by the addition of sodium hydroxide. For this reason, the reaction takes place at the beginning relatively slowly: Al2O3 + 2 NaOH + 3 H2O ––––> 2 Na(+) + 2 [Al(OH)4](-) I have never tried this myself, so I would want to test it on some scrap aluminum or a no-longer-used antenna, to be sure the lye doesn't eat away the pure metal as well as the aluminum oxide. But it might be worth a try. Use protective goggles and gloves, etc. any time you're working with lye. Lew K6LMP On Oct 19, 2010, at 11:37 AM, WILLIS COOKE wrote: > If anyone knows the answer to this one, I say it is not off topic. It is not > Elecraft, but it sure is ham radio. I have had some mixed results from > heating > the outer tube with a propane torch, but it is by no means fool proof. The > only > fool proof method that I know is to treat the joint before assembly and take > it > apart every couple of years. I use to use grease mixed with graphite powder > and > that worked very well, but our environmental friends have made it so that > finding graphite powder is difficult to impossible. There are various > products > available now at high prices to do the job. After the fact is really tough > and > sometimes a hack saw and a splice may be in order. These are not great > answers, > but they are the best I can do after 50 years of fighting the problem. > Willis 'Cookie' Cooke > K5EWJ > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
