Echostar dish rescued...

After searching & asking, more searching & asking, then a little more searching & asking, I now have an C-band dish.

I went to go look at it today. While it was in less than prime condition, I couldn't pass up on the price (free). I had plenty of help from the owner's brother and he even supplied the tools and trailer!

It measures nearly 8' across the dish rim. From what remains on the LNB housing, it looks it said Echostar. I haven't found any other identifying labels or mark on the dish or polar mount.

It'll need some TLC to make operational, but it was enough setup not to pass up. The mesh is dented up and a portion of one panel is missing. At the very least I can use the polar mount and pole.

Here are some photos:

Cham said:

Nice mount. Bolt it to your trailer and you'll have a portable C-band dish to take camping!
Nice trailer too... could use one like that...

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Thanks for the comments. A C-band camping? Would that then be Camping or 'Glamping'? BTW, that's an 18' Big Tex trailer. It will handle everything I could possibly load on it.

FTA4PA said:

Congrats! Can't beat free + help and a trailer! The mount/pole look to be in really decent shape and most of the mesh appears to be still there so it can be straightened out and put back in place. Only real issue will be the missing piece of mesh. Skyvision has replacement mesh panels but they are a bit pricey. http://www.skyvision.com/store/mi1500205.html

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Thanks for link and comments. I was expecting to just look at it and only brought a can of PB blaster, just in case. I rode out to the property with the owner's brother. When I said 'I'll take it' he wanted to get it down and moved!

The lock bolts that secure the polar mount to the pole easily came loose. It only had three bolts at the base, so it was easy to remove the pole. Overall, very little rust on the bolts, mounts or motor.

ke4est said:

Congrats! Can't wait to hear about how the install goes!!

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Thank you. Hopefully things go smoothly. I'll try to take some photos of the refurbishment. I'm sure that I'll have plenty of questions when I get further along with this project.

bpalone said:

Congratulations!

If can't find, or don't like the price for replacement mesh, you might try this. Find some aluminum window screening and some small gauge aluminum wire. For the wire you could probably even unravel some of the screen. Then cut the window screen just a bit bigger than what you're patching. Place it on the hole and use the wire to stitch the patch into place. Might not be the prettiest patch, but should work and after a paint job most people wouldn't even notice it.

It is just a patch, but should last reasonably well. At least until it take a direct hit from hard water falling from the sky. But, would buy you some time.

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Thank you and thank you for the tip! I've been thinking about the patch and was going to ask about aluminum window screen. It would seem to be both practical and inexpensive.

migold said:

Aluminum mesh for auto grilles is available online, Amazon. The critical dimensions are the hole size, and the gauge of the metal.

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I looked at the auto grille mesh yesterday, that also looks promising.

I'm thinking with perforated metal, 1/8" holes on 3/16" centers and about 0.032" thick (about 20 gauge or thereabouts). Does that sound right?

Another question:

I plan to remove the dish from the polar mount and then break it down into sections so that I can repair the mesh.

Do I need to mark anything or take any measurements for reassembly? It appears that it just bolts together and I would think the bolt holes are close tolerance so there wouldn't be any alignment issues.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thank you Turbosat. Message sent.

I plan on doing some work on the Echostar today and should know more of what I need to do on it. I briefly removed the feedhorn cover and it appears that everything is still in place and in good shape, albeit dusty (and a few wasp nests).

DK_Sat: Thanks for the upload.

A bit of an update:

Yesterday and today, I worked on the Echostar/KTI dish. I started by pulling the mesh panels off, one by one. After I removed a panel, I took it to a flat, smooth concrete area and used a rubber mallet and 1 1/2" PVC pipe to try to return the panel to some semblance of the correct shape. Once I had the panel pretty much straightened, I reinserted it with the former backside now on top.

Before:


After:


The panel straightening process took most of Saturday afternoon and part of Sunday afternoon. Luckily, I only lost 2 screws and 1 clip in the process.

Today with most of the panels straightened out, I needed to tackle the ding on the edge of the dish. I started out by using a 2x4 to go between the center brace and the center of the satellite. I thought I'd use a bottle jack between the panel center brace and outer edge to slowly push the edge back into shape. This idea, however, didn't work out so well. So I grabbed the rubber mallet and 'massaged' the outer rim back into shape.

Before:


Before 2:

After shaping:

With mesh panel reinstalled:

View of edge after straightening:

Continuing along,

I opened up the corotor housing and thought I'd go ahead and remove the contents.
Before:


After:


Previously installed corotor:


I thought before I spent too much more time, I ought to do the bailer twine test... I didn't have any string readily available, unless I took it from the kid's kite...

I ran the bailer twine across the dish at the LNB arms. The twine was spot on.


The camera lens fit inside the scalar ring pretty well, so I took a photo.


As everything seemed to be aligned I continued on...

Continuing on the mesh panels to the extent that I can...

I decided to try to get the panels a bit more straightened. Using a small propane torch, I gently heated the panels and tried to relieve the stressed areas. I may have removed factory annealing, but with what I started with I thought it'd be worth it. The torch helped a bit, I think it still has a lot of wave but I don't know what else to do other than mesh replacement.

So here is a shot after the torch and additional massaging on the mesh:


Also today, I removed the motor from the polar mount. I had liberally sprayed all hardware several times with PB Blaster. However, sometimes it just doesn't want to budge:


I got the motor off:


To loosen the heim joint, I had sprayed the socket numerous times with PB Blaster. Once the motor was off, I sprayed it more with PB Blaster and used a large screwdriver and a hammer. I tapped on the joint, as well as on the screwdriver. After a bit, I was able to free the joint a little. Continuing with tapping and spraying, I could get a little more movement. I was finally able to completely free the joint and sprayed it down with white lithium grease. Now the joint works freely:


The rubber boot on the motor was stiff and stuck. So using a knife, I pried back on the boot and sprayed plenty of silicon lube all round the shaft end of the boot. I also used a piece of wire to break the boot off of the motor housing to free it. After a careful pulling and prying I could get the boot worked loose from the motor end.


Here is a closeup of the motor specs:


So after removing the boot, I removed the back cover off the motor jack and this is what I found:




I haven't connected the motor to power yet. Maybe tomorrow, though I'm not real sure if I have what I need for a "modern" motor setup. Any input would be appreciated.

At this point now, I think I just need one small piece of metal to complete the dish portion of the project. I have some thin gauge aluminum, I just need to find it. I have a Titanium C-band LNBF that I now plan on using with this project. How does one secure the LNBF in the scalar that I have, short of a simple interference fit? Or will I need to manufacture something to secure it in the scalar?

Then I have to figure where to plant this thing...

phlatwound said:

Nice work Jason, really making some progress there.

There are usually some set screws in the scalar that you tighten to hold the feed. Does yours not have any? I have drilled and tapped scalar set screw holes for projects in the past also.
Is that a Von Weiss-brand motor? I have never had one of those but it should work fine for you if it is still operable.

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Thanks for the comment. I'll check the scalar a little more closely, but i didn't notice any set screw holes while looking at it yesterday.

The tag on the motor has shows Hawker-Siddely & Fasco & Von Weise gearmotors.

ke4est said:

Thanks for posting all the pics and keeping us informed. You are getting there.

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This is taking a little bit of work, but it's closer than when I started. I'm not completely satisfied with the mesh, but I think it'll be good enough for now.

The photos slow things down a bit, but I've learned that I can look back and see what and where.

Additionally, if I'm doing something wrong or need to do it different then I'd want an experienced member here to point it out. If I'm doing things right, then I hope it helps someone else out.