Building an H2H mount

[Greg Mueller]

The problem with a lot of flywheels is that you can replace the starter gear ring. I've done it once myself. You heat up the ring in the oven and slip it on the flywheel and let it cool. So if I were to cut the fly wheel in half that ring would twang off into space. I'm not sure if they make an unrepairable flywheel or not.

The other issue is that on real worm wheels, the teeth are at a slight angle to match and mesh with the worm gear, while the ring of a flywheel is made to mesh with a starter gear, which has no angle.

Finding a big worm wheel/gear is tough and expensive. It's probably why a lot of companies use the chain drive.

 

[gabshere]

yeah i can see where a sprocket , chain and motor would work
you would probably have to build some physical limits into the sprocket so it won't turn all the way around ( or you could just use it like a radar)

 

[Greg Mueller]

The thing is that a worm wheel/gear is very desirable. They give extreme gear reduction and once you turn off the power, the thing you are moving is locked in place.

Keep thinking

 

[gabshere]

well here's some more to think on
the actuator that pushes most dishes with the arm has a worm type shaft so you would have to find a sprocket to fit this type of worm drive. the actuators can be had cheaply and are already configured with limit switches and reed sensors.

 

[Greg Mueller]

Yah you sure could use a motor off a jack alright. Built in reduction and it runs off the right voltage as you say.
Good idea

 

[Anole]

Scroll to the bottom of the page, for replacement jack motors.
Available in your choice of 24v or 36v models.

And regarding worm vs chain drives....
From what I've seen here on the forum, the chain driven systems were deployed in much lower quantity than worm driven solutions.
Ya almost never see anyone with a chain, and the worms are in numerous H-H drives.

 

[Greg Mueller]

Those are very attractive prices

 

[Cadsulfide]

Greg;

You can tack weld the ring to the flywheel prior to cutting, and almost all speed reducer dc motor/gearboxes use a worm drive internally that provides you with some locking capability.


Stogie;

You should be able to adapt the starter drive gear to a gear reducer with a bushing

 

[Lone Cloud]

So the gear ring of the flywheel comes off if a triangular section is cut out.

They sell 3/4 inch threaded rods at every hardware depot. If you really want a gearing up, and therefore a slower movement of the dish, what about threading the flywheel edge to match the thread of the 3/4 inch rod?

If that tangential contact is not sufficient to power a big dish around, what about a rod that's threaded but concave - skinnier in the middle. It wouldn't be difficult to have the concave match the curve of the flywheel. It might be difficult to thread that concave rod with the same pitch all along its differering thickness.

I don't know.

 

[Greg Mueller]

So the gear ring of the flywheel comes off if a triangular section is cut out.

They sell 3/4 inch threaded rods at every hardware depot. If you really want a gearing up, and therefore a slower movement of the dish, what about threading the flywheel edge to match the thread of the 3/4 inch rod?

If that tangential contact is not sufficient to power a big dish around, what about a rod that's threaded but concave - skinnier in the middle. It wouldn't be difficult to have the concave match the curve of the flywheel. It might be difficult to thread that concave rod with the same pitch all along its differering thickness.

I don't know.

Lone Cloud
I think you would love a series of books written in the 20s called Amateur Telescope Making There were 3 volumes and were an assembly of articles from Scientific American Magazine Although concerned with making telescope mounts the problems of both Satellite Dishes and Telescope Mounts are quite similar. The main difference being that a telescope mount is in constant motion to "follow the stars"
The idea of threading the circumference of a disk to match a threaded rod is one that is discussed there at some length. It involved chucking a tap in a 3 jaw lathe chuck and mounting the proposed worm wheel on the cross slide of the lathe and basically pressing the worm wheel against the tap while the lathe is turning very slowly.
Guys back then had to make everything from scratch as there just plain wasn't any store bought stuff to be had. The ingenuity of the contributors is incredible. There is even a section that shows how to make sand castings and pour brass and aluminum.
Next time you are by a library stop in and see if they have them, most libraries do. I think you would get a real kick out them

 

[Lone Cloud]

Thanks Greg.

It seems like you wouldn't have to thread the edge of the flywheel. I wonder if you could cut the nuts in half and weld them to the flywheel after the threaded rod/shaft, motor and wheel are mounted in place. Maybe a half or quarter inch apart. Then you would have 180 degrees of thread holding the dish instead of a tangent edge.

Just thinking. I think I'd rather just use an actuator until an HH became available.

 

[TheWatcher]

New Guy

Greg
Just wondering what the status of this project is. Have you done any work on this yet? I have a few ideas and wanted to talk to you about them. I've sent you a couple of PMs. Are you there?