Conduit hanger LNB bracket, revisited

[RedSavina]

Parts list:
2 x 1 & 1/4" conduit hanger brackets @ 68¢ ea
2 x 3/4" spacers to take 1/4" bolt, not threaded @ 69¢
(no washers)

I turned the top (LNB) bracket around so its bolt is at the top , too.
To do so, I had to drill two holes in the bottom of the upper bracket, near its base.
Then, a supplied bolt was put through the lower bracket (the one mounted to the dish arm), then through the bottom of the upper bracket, and also through a 3/4" spacer.
By tightening the screw, the upper bracket crushes a bit, but that is acceptable.
Get the proper angle between the two brackets (I wanted 29º) and cinch that sucker tight!

To get the brackets misaligned by 29º, I needed to grind a bit off the lower bracket.
See picture with two arrows. About 1/16th inch needed to be taken off between the arrows.
Depends on how low on the upper bracket you drill the hole

My fat necked Invacom required the upper bracket be stretched open quite a bit to get the LNB in.
Then, the bolt was replaced, and snugged as required.

With the lower (pivot) bolt rock-solid-tight, you can tweak the top LNB-holding bolt all you want and never suffer for your mistakes.
You can even replace the LNB without losing alignment.

In the last picture, you can see a home-made 3/4" spacer in the end of the LNB arm, where the bracket is secured.
The spacer prevents the arm from crushing, when you snug down the bracket on it.
A commercial spacer would work as well.

I know if the actual height of the LNB horn isn't perfect , and the angle perfect, it'll throw off the elevation of the dish.
I'd tell you how much error I had, but unfortunately, I mounted the whole thing on a pole that was off-plumb by around 20º to the south.
It was all I could do to aim the dish high enough to get Whitesprings.

You may see two kinds of brackets in the pictures.
They came from different home building stores.
The one shown for the LNB is actually from Home Depot, and I recommend it over the lower one from OSH (Sears version of Home Depot).

Hopefully, by being long-winded and supplying sufficient pictures, anyone could do a similar bracket.
Thanks a bunch to z4ccamaro for his inspired bracket idea , without which this one would never have come about.

From an old thread, but good stuff!

Yesterday I built the first of these brackets - plus washers - and an extension for my D500. I used a straight edge to get the proper focal distance and angle marked on the LNB arm. I verified this by dropping a "naked" circular LNB in the mount and the 129w signal matches what I am getting from my 1K2 dish for pay tv.

Unfortunately my StarBox POS doesn't seem to work, but I will be able to use an FTA receiver next weekend. Can't wait to get my first FTA signal! I have been slowly collecting switches, brackets, etc and am ready to start in more seriously. My current plan is to use two GEOSATpro 90cm dishes (97/101 + 110, and 125/129) and attempt 103 with my modified D500. Once I start to figure out feeds, I will have to reconfigure or add on...

Attached are photos from my work yesterday. Thanks to Anole and z4ccamaro (and others) for their inspiration!

Red

PS: The quote above is from an old thread, but you can read more by clicking the link at the top.

 

[mikelib]

Cool Dish

Where did you get the L shaped Brackets???? Here is a picture of what I did, I bent a flat bar with holes that I purchased in the Homdepot hardware store where they have metal products.

 

[Anole]

good job!

Love your crazy bracket extenders! - - Both of ya!
That's why I used a Phase III dish, I could bolt the conduit bracket directly onto the LNB arm.

Here's one of my favorite and inspiring mods to the Dish 500:
McGuyver photo gallery - pix of Dish 500 with FTA LNB:
SatelliteGuys Photo Gallery - Dish500 20" round conversion to FTA photo 1 - Powered by PhotoPost
Dunno how he did it, and don't want to do it myself, but it's sure gorgeous!
Modern art, of FTA !

And to think, this was all inspired by a picture and a post by: z4ccamaro.
Shame he isn't still postin'. Probably has lots more great ideas - :up

 

[mikelib]

Forgot the Bracket pictures

Here are the pictures of my brackets, information from the same source. BTW, you can use the dish to get alot of FTA stations on 97W. There are a lot of stations and some of the trandsponders are pretty strong, I usally use that sat when I give a demo of FTA with a small dish.

Lot Luck with you set up.
Mike Lib

 

[RedSavina]

Where did you get the L shaped Brackets???? Here is a picture of what I did, I bent a flat bar with holes that I purchased in the Homdepot hardware store where they have metal products.

I was wandering around Lowe's trying to figure out where they had stashed the strapping for hot water tanks (which resembles what is in your photos - credit to you for that idea/inspiration). I tried plumbing, then thought of earthquake straps (even though this is not earthquake country), then moved on to deck building supplies. There I found some flat stock with various holes that was not terribly different from what you used. It looked too flimsy, though, and the next step up was way too beefy. That's when I noticed the little L brackets for 50 cents each! They have two holes that are diagonally opposed. I figured I could line them up and drill so that the diagonals would match instead of mirroring in that orientation, then use a couple of bolts to give me some adjustment.

All in all, it has worked pretty well. It is fairly strong, but has a little "spring" to it. I'm sure it will vibrate in high winds! To improve the design I would like to find stiffer material that is a closer match to the LNB arm material. I would probably use a single larger bold rather, too. The current design is not as strong and leaves room for misalignment (e.g. not parallel) between the two brackets, which would affect the LNB. This would make it resemble a worm gear.

The best part of this design? About six bucks and fun, too!

 

[RedSavina]

Love your crazy bracket extenders! - - Both of ya!
That's why I used a Phase III dish, I could bolt the conduit bracket directly onto the LNB arm.

Here's one of my favorite and inspiring mods to the Dish 500:
McGuyver photo gallery - pix of Dish 500 with FTA LNB:
SatelliteGuys Photo Gallery - Dish500 20" round conversion to FTA photo 1 - Powered by PhotoPost
Dunno how he did it, and don't want to do it myself, but it's sure gorgeous!
Modern art, of FTA !

And to think, this was all inspired by a picture and a post by: z4ccamaro.
Shame he isn't still postin'. Probably has lots more great ideas - :up

I saw his mount and liked it - could be a good one for my bandstacked LNBs! Would take a lot more effort, though. Especially the powder coat...

I have a phase III also and bought enough supplies to build two more brackets (one for each dish and one for any "oops" during fabrication). I figured I would start with the D500 since it is the bigger dish at 22". The AU9 looks like fun with the adjustment bolts - may have to watch for one of those. I believe that one is 20" tall like the 1K2.

I also have a 1K2 currently in service. Maybe if the FTA bug bites hard enough I would consider dropping my absoluteHD subscription (or try to leech off of the larger dishes with "wing" LNBs and my DPP34. hmmm..). I've wondered if the 1K2 would allow me to pull in a couple of sats in this way.

 

[RedSavina]

I also have a 1K2 currently in service. Maybe if the FTA bug bites hard enough I would consider dropping my absoluteHD subscription (or try to leech off of the larger dishes with "wing" LNBs and my DPP34. hmmm..). I've wondered if the 1K2 would allow me to pull in a couple of sats in this way.

The more I think about this, the more it appeals - especially if those "wing" LNBs can benefit from a larger dish to improve rain fade despite their off center location... I shouldn't have any trouble with 110 on the 97/101 dish and 119 should be fine on the 125/129 dish. That would just leave me with the dilemma of how to pull 61.5 or 129 for my HD package.

I really do hate being a sucker to Charlie, but every time I watch something in HD on the 8 foot big screen, I soften my position. I sure wish there was a Ku subscription option for us (and not like the short-lived DSR410 Ku experiment - something that works on the standard Ku receivers that are so plentiful, many of which can read subscription cards).

 

[RedSavina]

SUCCESS!!!

Unboxed my receiver that arrived today and plugged it in. With some minor tweaking, I was able to get my initial ~10 quality reading to ~39. I know I can do better, this was just a quick test running between the garage and driveway (through the house ).

I can now see Whitesprings with my D500!

Sadly, I have a very busy couple of weeks coming up and may not get too much time to play other than briefly on the weekend. But it is a start!

PS: funny thing about that receiver - had options for something called autoroll in the menus... Wonder what that is ? Guess I'll never know as I nuked the FW and put a factory version in!

 

[turbosat]

What receiver was it?

 

[RedSavina]

What receiver was it?

This one is a CaptiveWorks CW-800s that I picked up for $30. I also have a Coolsat 7100 on the way ($35). Too bad shipping is so ridiculous, or they would have been a steal rather than a deal.

 

[guapoharry]

Those angles look like Simpson Strong-Tie - Helping to Build Stronger, Safer Structures

A21 maybe...
http://www.strongtie.com/products/connectors/A-Z.asp

Available at H.D. and Lowes

 

[Cband55]

Do they sell those brackets on any hardware store?

 

[RedSavina]

Those angles look like Simpson Strong-Tie - Helping to Build Stronger, Safer Structures

A21 maybe...
A Angles and Z Clips

Available at H.D. and Lowes

I'll check the labels when I get home, but I think you are right. Definitely got the manufacturer right!