Keyboard In The Wilderness wrote:

Advice from several gurus as garnered from the news groups over time.

For cleaning aluminum tubing, an antenna guru recommends the use of #0 steel
wool, along with dishwashing detergent. . .

I've read that using steel wool will result in tiny pieces of the steel
being left embedded in the aluminum, resulting in long term pitting and
corrosion. Is that an old wives' tale, then?

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

No ! It definitely cleans and shines the anternna so objective is achieved.
Regarding possible destructive action , can you point to a study
that shows measurable losses with respect to exposure time ?
I am assuming that you are refering to cases where a sizeable portion of the
aluminum surface is removed and replaced by steel which somehow
prevent skin depth from attaining its original depth. ( not what the normal
operator had in mind)
But if you are refering to corrosion of the embedded steel particles
'tiny bits' that would be a nye impossible loss to measure and thus would
take it's place as "an old wives tale"
( Unless you have a study that proves otherwise
such as a .01" lump of steel embedded in a 1" diameter tube
provides a measureable loss )

Art

"Roy Lewallen" wrote in message
...
Keyboard In The Wilderness wrote:

Advice from several gurus as garnered from the news groups over time.

For cleaning aluminum tubing, an antenna guru recommends the use of #0
steel
wool, along with dishwashing detergent. . .

I've read that using steel wool will result in tiny pieces of the steel
being left embedded in the aluminum, resulting in long term pitting and
corrosion. Is that an old wives' tale, then?

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

" wrote in message news:%OI9d.331893$mD.174063@attbi_s02...


"Roy Lewallen" wrote in message
...
Keyboard In The Wilderness wrote:

Advice from several gurus as garnered from the news groups over time.

For cleaning aluminum tubing, an antenna guru recommends the use of #0
steel
wool, along with dishwashing detergent. . .

I've read that using steel wool will result in tiny pieces of the steel
being left embedded in the aluminum, resulting in long term pitting and
corrosion. Is that an old wives' tale, then?

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

No ! It definitely cleans and shines the anternna so objective is achieved.
Regarding possible destructive action , can you point to a study
that shows measurable losses with respect to exposure time ?
I am assuming that you are refering to cases where a sizeable portion of the
aluminum surface is removed and replaced by steel which somehow
prevent skin depth from attaining its original depth. ( not what the normal
operator had in mind)
But if you are refering to corrosion of the embedded steel particles
'tiny bits' that would be a nye impossible loss to measure and thus would
take it's place as "an old wives tale"
( Unless you have a study that proves otherwise
such as a .01" lump of steel embedded in a 1" diameter tube
provides a measureable loss )

Art

It's not loss. It's embedded bits of steel later turning to rust. I
could even see the possibility of the particles acting as diodes of
sorts, and could cause noise. Even if thats not true, embedded rust
particles on aluminum elements is not what I would call desired. Could
leave red streaks. Myself, I use the scotchbright pads, "usually
green", and whatever soap is around. MK

Prompted by the lack of a definitive response, I did a little web
research. A wide variety of industries (e.g., cookware and window frame
makers) routinely recommend cleaning aluminum with steel wool. Notably,
however, the FAA seems to prohibit it on aircraft. One newsgroup poster
(an EI, which would be a bad environment for corrosion) said he had
direct -- bad -- experience, and would never use steel wool on aluminum
again. So it looks to me like the jury is still out. Maybe it's ok if
you live in an environment that's pretty benign with respect to
corrosion, but a bad idea if you live close to the ocean. I don't claim
to know, and I've never felt the need to clean outside aluminum, so it's
just curiosity to me.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Roy I have used steel wool for year to clean Al with no problem, A couple of
years ago I experienced the problem you described in your post. Apparently
it depends on the type of Al used. The device I had trouble with was a TV
antenna. Electrical connections were bad and I had disassembled it for
cleaning. The Al was very soft.

"Roy Lewallen" wrote in message
...
Prompted by the lack of a definitive response, I did a little web
research. A wide variety of industries (e.g., cookware and window frame
makers) routinely recommend cleaning aluminum with steel wool. Notably,
however, the FAA seems to prohibit it on aircraft. One newsgroup poster
(an EI, which would be a bad environment for corrosion) said he had
direct -- bad -- experience, and would never use steel wool on aluminum
again. So it looks to me like the jury is still out. Maybe it's ok if
you live in an environment that's pretty benign with respect to
corrosion, but a bad idea if you live close to the ocean. I don't claim
to know, and I've never felt the need to clean outside aluminum, so it's
just curiosity to me.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL