12ft Paraclipse to be removed from local business roof

[stogie5150]

outSTANDING! Welcome to the paraclipse club.

Also, good job on hauling vehicle choice. Don't see many of those anymore, Old Iron RULES!

 

[brex2001]

Calvin is taking a wizz on 'Sacramento' - a shoutout to all the classic iron that was scrapped in name of the "cash for clunkers" program debacle.
The one on the left says: "Your hybrid is my crumple zone"
Rant over.

 

[brex2001]

breaking it down

For the past two days(well - half days) I've been taking the dish down to brackets, ribs, bolts & clips - lots of clips. Having an air compressor, air ratchet, impact gun to remove all the rusty hardware made short work of frame teardown.
Those pesky j-clips were easiest to remove if the j didn't get spread beyond the 1/4" loop & then fish them through the mesh. A pair of good diagonal cutters to pull the clips out to a 90* then turn to left or right with lineman's pliers made them manageable.The ones in between the tight parts of the frame bows needed the most coaxing - a thin blade screwdriver to spread the welded bow gently helps.
The polar mount looks to have been assembled dry - no lube inside the tube at all!

 

[brex2001]

sorting the parts

Bundled the like frame parts together with wire ties. Laid out one each of the panels on a 4 x8 sheet of press wood to judge how I'll construct boxes to protect the panels - I think I'll make it 2. Rip 2x4s on the table saw to 5/8" x 1 1/2" strips & staple these through the press wood to make a framed box & put a 1/4" plywood lid on them.

 

[waylew]

When I took down,and reinstalled in my yard,my 12' Paraclipse,there was (is) some kind of plastic sheet inside the polar tube.I assume this was to act as a shim and lubricant for the mount.How much of that sheet is left I don't know,dish has been out there 15? years now and was in it's previous location for 5 to 10.

 

[RT-Cat]

In the past year I've asked maybe a dozen owners about their seemingly unused dishes. Among them were a 7.5ft Winegard(the guy wants $500), 10ft Perfect 10s(not for sale), a 12ft SAMI(the guy wants $1000), and others. This 12ft Paraclipse has been the only constant - its still mine for the taking

That guy must have been nuts. Maybe he thought it was gold plated. It looks like you now have a really BIG BUD! Nice job of taking down and taking apart. Hope you enjoy Oregon. Good friend of mine moved to Grants Pass about 8 or 9 years ago and loves it there.
One thing that surprises me is the number of "old" dishes so many of you find in your areas. I have looked around 50 miles in three directions and have only seen three. Three piles of pure junk.
Enjoy your new big toy.

RT.

 

[brex2001]

boxing things up

Got the mesh panels boxed up for transport - 2 triangular boxes of plywood & 2x4s ripped lengthwise to 1"x1.5" strips. A 1" depth neatly holds the 8 panels snug without overly compressing them. Had to mend one outer panel with .032" stainless aircraft wire - about 3.5" on one corner. I'll likely box up some of the flimsier brackets to keep them from harm too.

There's something wrong with the file uploader guys!
I was unable to upload pics tonight.

 

[brex2001]

boxing things up, ctd

OK here's the pics I meant to upload last night.

Everything's back in order Scott! Thanks!

 

[brex2001]

Paraclipse bonus(lol)

Finally opened up the feedhorn & LNB cover today - looks like there had been many tenants, from sparrows to owls to parrots. The entire cover was packed full of nesting materials! 'Bout filled a 5 gal bucket!

 

[brex2001]

A real bonus

One of the mechanics where I got this Paraclipse mentioned that he had a ham antenna rotator. Picked that up today too.