free dish any advice?

[PALL MALL]

Hello everyone!

Getting back into fta and found a big dish. It's fiberglass on a pole about 8' up. How hard is this going to be to get down?

 

[bigjohnok]

forklift ladder and some tools.

you will need a fork lift or a cherry picker of some sort if you do not feel like completely disassembling it piece by piece.

 

[navychop]

Might want destination to have a pole ready to receive- get the most out of renting the picker or fork.

 

[Titanium]

Depends how many friends you have! Tie a few ropes to the top of the pole, saw 3/4+ through the backside of the pole base and slowly control fall the dish down to the catchers.

You have enough pole there that you won't have to buy!

 

[KE4EST]

Depends how many friends you have! Tie a few ropes to the top of the pole, saw 3/4+ through the backside of the pole base and slowly control fall the dish down to the catchers.

You have enough pole there that you won't have to buy!

This is the way some friends and I took one down and few years ago, worked great.

 

[Santa Clause]

Depends how many friends you have! Tie a few ropes to the top of the pole, saw 3/4+ through the backside of the pole base and slowly control fall the dish down to the catchers.

You have enough pole there that you won't have to buy!

I did this a few years ago with a high 12' mesh. Much better to stand on the ground to free rusty bolts rather than on a ladder.

 

[ken2400]

Depends how many friends you have! Tie a few ropes to the top of the pole, saw 3/4+ through the backside of the pole base and slowly control fall the dish down to the catchers.

You have enough pole there that you won't have to buy!

This sounds like the way to go. Fiberglass is heaver than metal ones so have them ready to guide it down as soon as the cutting starting and tie it up as high and you can reach with a ladder. The toughest part is getting it on the ground. I have a 6' offset and it a two person job to move it around. I can move my 5' mesh by myself.
Good luck and send us some pictures.
Thanks

 

[Lone Gunman]

And on another note, is that dish warped? And if so how bad is it? I'd be tempted to try to do a "string test" on it before you go to too much trouble taking it down as from what I understand, those old fiberglass dishes are bad about that.

 

[PALL MALL]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think we are going to try the controlled fall method if there's enough room. The view from google maps doesn't look good. The yard is very small and narrow. I'm going over today to assess the situation.

How heavy would you guess the dish to be? I'm not sure what size it is I'm guessing 8 ft. Anyone have any info on the dish? I've searched all over the internet and can't find anything like it.

 

[phlatwound]

I would guess the dish and mount at around 200#.

And another vote for checking it for warpage before you take the plunge, would suck to put in all that effort for a poorly-shaped reflector.

 

[PALL MALL]

Went to check out the dish yesterday. It's higher off the ground than expected about 14' to the mount. Didn't get a chance to do a string test and not sure if I'll be able to with the dish so high up. If google is accurate the dish is a 10 footer. Forgot my tape measure .

I'm not sure if the dish is fiberglass. Some paint was peeling off the back and it looks like aluminum or steel underneath. Did a Google search for aluminum dishes and happened to find something similar. This one is only 1.8m but it looks like the exact same dish with a different mount. It's a DX dish.

 

[polgyver]

Hello, PALL MALL,
Do you still need this dish?
Probably there is another way to bring it down - safely, and without renting fork lift.
Two pieces of 6' uni-strut, some more hardware (1/2 " U-bolts, steel nipple + ... ), 16' extension ladder, and 3/8 or thicker climber's rope - would do the job, no helpers needed.
Seems the dish is made of metal. Fiberglass dish usually has reinforcing ribs.
Even if slightly warped - it could be un-warped with braces.
Cheers, polgyver