Quote:
Originally Posted by mhennessy
I'd be tempted to join the aluminium sheets with M3 nuts and bolts, with shakeproof washers to help improve the contact. For the connection to the downlead, the same nuts and bolts could be used to attach some solder tags. The co-ax could be soldered directly to these, or short wires could lead to an intermediate connector, like a terminal block or a socket of some form. Easy to build and take apart  |
Just a follow-up - as I was writing this, I was wondering if aluminium foil tape might be of use. I've got a few rolls of 3M stuff, which probably came from Lidl, of all places!
Sadly, from a quick test that I've just done, the glue does not appear to be conductive. OK, there'll be some pretty reasonable capacitive coupling, but it won't connect together the various bits of metal together as well as I hoped. The possibility of making the whole thing from this tape also crossed my mind, but I think that's probably out.
Another thought would be foil-backed plasterboard. Easily found in DIY stores. It would be easy to remove the foil from the inner square and the section where the cable connects, and connections again can be made using standard solder tags and shake-proof washers. I'd mount a bit of timber behind to take the screws, but penny washers would probably spread the load on the other side of the plasterboard well enough.
The edges (and bits where the foil was removed) would need to be taped over to stop them shedding white dust, but otherwise, that seems like the easiest solution to me. When you don't need it any more, just break it down and chuck it away.
How well does solder take to aluminium foil, MM?