Michael Coslo wrote:
Jim Lux wrote:
lagagnon wrote:
I am about to refurbish an old Hy-Gain TH3-Mk3 Thunderbird tri-band
yagi. This yagi has been used in a coastal environment and thus the
aluminum is slightly pitted and most of the connecting hardware needs
replacing.

I figure steel wool would work fine for the aluminum tubing,

Avoid steel wool. Inevitably, it will leave little iron/steel fibers
behind, which will rust/corrode/react with the aluminum.

Hi Jim,

I keep hearing about steel wool rusting in/corroding Aluminum, but does
anyone have actual evidence? I've been looking on the web, and although
apparently using steel wool on AL will cause warts, bad breath, and the
downfall of the free world, all I've found is admonitions not to use it.
Maybe I'll try an experiment - I have some old antenna tubing.

Go for it.

There's just something a little strange about this. For the steel
particles to corrode the AL, they would have to detach, (easy enough)
settle into pores in the Aluminum at sizes small enough to do that,
(hmmm, those are pretty tiny steel particles) or have some odd property
of sticking to the AL despite cleaning.

steel is much harder than aluminum, so the little fibers jam into the
relatively soft aluminum and make their own holes.


Then I guess it's a race between
rust and galvanic corrosion?

Yep..



Use synthetic scrubbies (3M ScotchBrite) instead.

Bronze or stainless steel wool might be a good material to use. Boaters
use it on aluminum.

- 73 de Mike N3LI -



The other thing to keep in mind with this sort of thing is the expected
life. Hey, if it's only going to be up for a year or two or three, it
probably doesn't matter. If you're going to expect your grandchildren's
children to use it unchanged, a bit more care might be required.