The ladder line antenna feeder, more.

On dropping the ladder feed down, I was able to get a better look at my ladder spacers, made from plastic milk bottle material. Someone suggested the UV would have affected them, but they did appear to be fine from the ground looking up.

They have in fact degraded quite badly, so I'm wondering about possible alternatives. An obvious one which came to mind, was 2L clear plastic lemonade bottle material cut up. Will this be UV resistant?

Idea is to cut it into strips 2"(H) x 1.5"(V) with two holes pierced at each side. Cable (vertical) x2 is then threaded in the upper hole, back out of the lower one, so these spacers stay put where they are placed on the cable, like the rungs on a ladder, hence the name 'ladder line'.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield
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no

Reply to
tabbypurr

They are made from PETG, which is not UV stable. Acrylic (Perspex) is one of the most UV resistant of the common plastics. PVC is better than most others.

Reply to
Nightjar

The plastic from gutters, downpipes and soil pipes (uPVC?) is pretty long lasting in UV You can get 3m of squareline guttering from toolsatan for just over a fiver which should yield a huge number of flat pieces when cut appropriately. I cut some this week on a table saw with no problems.

Reply to
Bob Minchin

A possibly easier source of flat black PVC sheet which yields rather larger pieces is to use half round guttering. Cut it into lengths which will just fit into your domestic oven, put it in at about 80- 100 C, and leave for ten minutes. Take it out using gloves - it will now be floppy and rubbery. Press it between two boards until cool - voila!

It's actually a very useful source of inexpensive versatile material, which can be formed while hot, and glued using PVC plumbing adhesive. Might suit your needs for the ladder feeder, and should be sensibly UV resistant.

Charles F

Reply to
Charles F

Thanks both, for the pointer - I have plenty of spare guttering around which I could re-purpose.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

If anyone should need to check out the RF properties of any plastics, or in fact any material - an easy way is to put it in a microwave oven, with a glass of water to avoid running the microwave with no load. If the material warms up, it absorbs RF so is unsuitable.

I will be checking the RF properties of both the white and black guttering later :D

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

That is an excellent tip! I have all sorts of offcuts of gutter which I am too mean to throw away, and I sometimes need sheet that sort of thickness for electrical and other projects.

Reply to
newshound

They go very brittle, as I used to use them upturned on legs as automatic watering devices, and they wentquite brittle in a year, whether it was the cold in the winter greenhouse or the heat in the summer I do not know. I thought most home made ladder line was made from old biros with cord pulled through them.

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

I just wonder about wood, if treated and using insulated wire, I'd have though it would last for a long time. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Brian Gaff was thinking very hard :

Wood spacer were used at one time, but as the T is a little way out from the support, I am trying to keep the weight of the ladder line down to a minimum.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

Oooh, I like that idea but I can imagine the management taking a dim view. Might have to wait until the management have gone out, is there any odour produced?

For the spacers cut the guttering into strips before warming?

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

No, at the temperatures and times involved you are just warming it up enought to become malleable - it's not hot enough to start chemically decomposing and getting smelly.

One thing I forgot to say - once in a flat sheet it can be easily cut up with tin snips as an alternative to sawing.

Charles F

Reply to
Charles F

Having tried a number of approaches (such as biro tubes) the most stable plastic I've encountered (which has now endured more than 5 years without any obvious degradation) is the packing pieces around central heating radiators when they are first delivered.

... then secured by small twists of that very soft steel wire sold in garden centres.

Reply to
gareth

The management has a hypersensitive nose, especially for anything organic. I can get a bollocking for using a bit of lighter fluid on a kitchen roll to clean something in the house when she is the other end of the building through 3 closed doors.

Even "warm plastic" is likely to produce comment and in the oven...

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Have you tried getting her to sleep on a pile of mattresses with a pea underneath, for she might be a princess?!

Reply to
gareth

Then you do have a problem!

Charles F

Reply to
Charles F

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