1 meter Primstar dish worth fixing?

[Jullius]

I was out dish hunting today and I found my first primestar dish in the wild The owner was all too happy to get rid of it. Once I agreed to take it down I noticed that it was slightly damaged. See the pictures below.

I'm hoping that I can use some fiberglass epoxy or something to fix it. I have the 3 lnb arms and the lnb. I removed them so I could fit it in my car. Am I correct in thinking this is fixable and not too badly damaged?

Can anyone suggest a thread or link to some info on how to best set this dish up for FTA. Can I reuse the lbn bracket or should I make a new one arm version.

Thanks for helping a noobie out.

 

[gabshere]

fix it or leave it like it is
should work fine surface area damaged shouldn't degread your signal that much

use the arm & support lnb bracket , it should work like most offset dishes

 

[Mr Tony]

that little crack wont make much of a difference as its on the end

 

[eurosport]

Definitely a keeper! Use the original arms and bracket. Channel Master/Primestars are great dishes, and usually the price is right! I have that same dish looking at G18.

 

[No Doubt]

Cool find, I would put it back together & have fun with it. My 1.0 works great,
No Doubt

 

[Jullius]

Thanks, that's what I was hoping to hear.

 

[Tron]

Must be the month for finding 1M P* dishes I'd hook it up and see what you get, performance-wise.

 

[Anole]

overthinking it:

I was going to suggest some JB Weld, front 'n rear...
... lay down a large square of saran wrap over the crack on the front side...
... tape down the saran wrap...
... smooth out the epoxy with your finger, without letting the saran wrap slide around ...
... when it cures hard 'n shiny, then peel off the saran wrap...
... use a bit of Scotchbrite to knock off the shine...
... then spray whole dish with gray primer, charcoal, or flat black paint, as you prefer.

 

[AcWxRadar]

I was out dish hunting today and I found my first primestar dish in the wild The owner was all too happy to get rid of it. Once I agreed to take it down I noticed that it was slightly damaged. See the pictures below.

I'm hoping that I can use some fiberglass epoxy or something to fix it. I have the 3 lnb arms and the lnb. I removed them so I could fit it in my car. Am I correct in thinking this is fixable and not too badly damaged?

Can anyone suggest a thread or link to some info on how to best set this dish up for FTA. Can I reuse the lbn bracket or should I make a new one arm version.

Thanks for helping a noobie out.

Julius,

As long as there is no damage around or near the four bolt pattern at the central part of the dish, that little rip on the edge isn't going to affect the functionality of the dish much. I don't percieve that you will ever detect a signal problem because of it.

Repairing it would be good advice to prevent it from becoming worse, but otherwise, it should be completely functional.

As for the LNBF support arm and bracket, that all depends upon what you want to install on it for a new LNBF. A lot of the new LNBFs are going to have a larger diameter neck and won't fit the original mount. I would just modify it slightly to fit an Invacom QPH-031. Even the redneck method with duct tape and zip ties will make it work temporarily while you test it and experiement.

If you watch the Red Green Show, you will discover how to do all sorts of things! He's my hero!

Radar

 

[tvropro]

I was going to suggest some JB Weld, front 'n rear...
... lay a 6" square piece of saran wrap over the crack on the front, and smooth out the epoxy with your finger...
... when it cures hard 'n shiny, then...
... a bit of Scotchbrite to knock off the shine...
... then a shot of gray primer, charcoal , or flat black paint, as you prefer.

I had a minor crack on my rim of my 90cm PS I found. I put some JB Weld on it 3 years ago she's still solid as a rock, great stuff.

 

[B.J.]

Speaking of Primestar dishes, some of you may have seen me post about my "mirror" experiments with my 90 CM Fortec, where I put 5 little mirrors on the dish, and aimed it at the sun, expecting all the reflections to focus on the lnbf..... they didn't. Well during this recent solar outage period, I had both my Primestar and 90 CM aimed at AMC21, so I put mirrors on it again, looked up the solar outage time, and went out to watch the reflections. Again, could only get one of the 5 mirrors to reflect onto the lnbf at one time with the Fortec. But the Primestar had all 5 mirrors centered on the lnbf.
Really impressed me with respect to the quality of the primestar dishes.

 

[tvropro]

Really impressed me with respect to the quality of the primestar dishes.

Primestar dishes are performers and keepers. Not like alot of that overseas garbage that is out there.

 

[Larobpra]

My 90cm ChannelMaster (basically the same dish) also has a crack on the outside edge. It works great!

 

[Cadsulfide]

A Teksat Tracker II (redhead) will bolt right up, good performer available on fleabay

 

[Jullius]

Thanks for the tip. I'm going to give it a try. I'll post some pictures once it's all fixed up and operational again.

I was going to suggest some JB Weld, front 'n rear...
... lay a 6" square piece of saran wrap over the crack on the front, and smooth out the epoxy with your finger...
... when it cures hard 'n shiny, then...
... a bit of Scotchbrite to knock off the shine...
... then a shot of gray primer, charcoal , or flat black paint, as you prefer.

 

[AcWxRadar]

I was out dish hunting today and I found my first primestar dish in the wild The owner was all too happy to get rid of it. Once I agreed to take it down I noticed that it was slightly damaged. See the pictures below.

I'm hoping that I can use some fiberglass epoxy or something to fix it. I have the 3 lnb arms and the lnb. I removed them so I could fit it in my car. Am I correct in thinking this is fixable and not too badly damaged?

Can anyone suggest a thread or link to some info on how to best set this dish up for FTA. Can I reuse the lbn bracket or should I make a new one arm version.

Thanks for helping a noobie out.

View attachment 35020

View attachment 35021

Julius,

I have several old Primestars and Channel Master dishes. The LNBF bracket on most do fit the newer LNBFs (neck diameter). I cannot see your bracket, so I don't know what it really is. If it is like mine, you won't have to do any modifications to it to fit something like the Invacom QPH-031.

I installed these LNBFs on all of mine, even the one that I did have to modify.

Radar

 

[Mr Tony]

Primestar dishes are performers and keepers. Not like alot of that overseas garbage that is out there.

so true. Have 3 of them (2 in use)

 

[eurosport]

Same here, but all 3 are in use....and I know where there's 3 more just waiting for me!:up