On new orders, be sure to inventory parts as soon as you receive the antenna
At SteppIR Antennas, we strive to send you exactly what you need for building an antenna.
The mistakes on orders have been drastically reduced in the last year, and we continue to work towards perfection.
Because the parts we provide are not always going to be readily available at your local hardware store, we highly recommend that you take an inventory of the contents of your shipment as soon as possible upon receiving your SteppIR antenna.
Knowing if there is a missing part well in advance of your install date will alleviate a lot of stress that you don’t need – it’s hard enough putting antennas up, we don’t want you to have added frustration.
If you do see that you are short of a part, contact us right away and we will get it taken care of!
73
SteppIR Antennas
Stainless Steel Galling (cold-welding)
From time to time, we get complaints from customers regarding galling of stainless steel fasteners.
Here is an excerpt from the Industrial Fastener Institute’s Standards Book:
Thread galling seems to be the most prevalent with fasteners made of stainless steel, aluminum, titanium and other alloys which self-generate an oxide surface film for corrosion protection. During fastener tightening, as pressure builds between the contactin and sliding thread surfaces, protective oxides are broken, possibly wiped off and iterface metal high points shear or lock together. This cumulative clogging-shearing-locking action causes increasing adhesion. In the extreme, galling leads to seizing – the actual freezing together of the threads. If tightening is continued, the fastener can be twisted off or its threads ripped out.
During minor galling, the fastener can still be removed, but in severe cases of galling, a strong bond between the bolt and nut can prevent removal of fastners. Unfortunately, little is known on how to control it, but here are two ways to minimize this effect:
Decreasing installation RPM speed will cause less friction and decrease heat generation.
Lubrication used prior to assembly can dramatically reduce or eliminate galling. Recommended lubricants should contain higher amounts of molybdenum disulfide, such as graphite which is very commonly used as a solid lubricant or special anti-galling lubricants sold by chemical companies.
We provide anti-seize compound with all of our antennas and strongly encourage you to use it to reduce the aggravation of galling. Contrary to popular belief, galling of stainless steel is not a symptom of a “cheap” fastener – it is prevelant in all types of stainless steel, aluminum and titanium fasteners. You can be assured that the stainless steel fasteners we provide with our products are manufactured of high quality.
Save yourself a lot of grief and always use a thread lubricant when working with stainless steel fasteners.
Thanks!
Got a cool picture of a SteppIR?
Got a cool picture of a SteppIR antenna?
Email it to sales@steppir.com and we would be pleased to place it on our “SteppIR’s Around the World” rotating picture carousel, located on the upper right page of all SteppIR website pages.
Be sure to put in the subject line of the email: WEBSITE PHOTO
Thanks!
SPE Amplifiers
After careful consideration, we have decided to no longer distribute the SPE Expert amplifier.
If you have purchased an amplifier through SteppIR Antennas, we will absolutely honor warranty repairs for the warranty period. For non-warranty repairs or for amplifiers that are out of the warranty period, please contact the new distributor:
Expert Amps USA; 214.497.0698
