How to Get a 10' Fiberglass One Piece Home... From 260 Miles Away

[gpflepsen]

I'm getting it bad, my little 8' Channelmaster fiberglass is working well, but it struggles with the weaker S2 signals. The solution... A BIGGER DISH!!!

Now I'm seeing a second problem developing. I'm collecting too many BUDS! I grabbed a 12' Unimesh last month that was craigslisted as a 10 footer. That really sucked. What a bummer!

A good friend's parents had a nice solid 10' fiberglass dish installed in the 70's that was replaced by the pizza dish about 6 years ago. It was rolled off to a shed and has sat there until this past weekend. For the past couple years I've been intending to grab it, but I haven't been in their area in awhile, as it's 260 miles away. I've suggested here a few times to others how I'd move a large solid dish, and now I had to but my money where my mouth had been.

I constructed a frame, basically an 8' square of 2x4 studs to support the dish face, inclined about 35 degrees. The dish was strapped to the trailer, with the frame screwed to the decking. She rode down the road at 75-80 mph with no issues A total of six 2x4 studs were used, with four being reusable after the frame is broke down. See pics for more info.

Any ideas what this dish may be? The polar mount is on the tail of the trailer and the pole is under the dish. The pole is at least 6" diameter, maybe a little bigger.

 

[pro96]

Could be a hazzard on the hwy according to HP so be prepared to get pulled over just for the heck of it.

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[gpflepsen]

How so a hazard?

 

[FaT Air]

As long as you 'load' is under 8ft wide and under 14' 6" high their should be no problem with "the authorities". But check the route for "low clearances' . I'm surprised that it's a one piece.( being a 10ft) BTW: what was the problem with the " 12' Unimesh last month that was craigslisted as a 10 footer"
Get 12 for what was listed as a 10 looks like a BONUS to me. I'd love a 12.

 

[Anole]

couple of questions

Looks like you did a good job packing it for transport.

However, none of the pictures show anything unique.
For instance, where's a picture of the feed assembly?
Does it have a button hook?

The mount looks pretty substantial.
You got the pole. How long is it?
How heavy is the dish ?
Sometimes at night, you can back illuminate old Fiberglas dishes with a super strong light, and see the mesh.

What kind of mover does it have?
?Usually those heavy dishes need a monster to handle the loads.

 

[gpflepsen]

As long as you 'load' is under 8ft wide and under 14' 6" high their should be no problem with "the authorities". But check the route for "low clearances' . I'm surprised that it's a one piece.( being a 10ft) BTW: what was the problem with the " 12' Unimesh last month that was craigslisted as a 10 footer"
Get 12 for what was listed as a 10 looks like a BONUS to me. I'd love a 12.

No real problem with the 12' mesh, other than two panels need to have the mesh coaxed back into the frame. And the lack of real project time, and the hot f'n weather! I'm looking forward to getting that put up sometime before winter, but I have a few hours of work to do on it.

 

[Lone Gunman]

?Usually those heavy dishes need a monster to handle the loads.

That's a Von Weise mover and it looks like the shaft seal is still good so it's probably in "decent" shape rust wise. I've seen several of those locally that the seal was bad or missing and water got in and froze then busted the housing. This one "looks" to be in pretty good shape from what I see in the picture.

I've got 3 of those Von Weise movers that I've "rebuilt", two of which have brass nuts in'em along with 10 magnet reed switch wheels. The one on my 10ft Unimesh is a "rebuilt" stocker with plastic nut but I did shim the end play out of that gear box.

Good luck on the project!!

 

[gpflepsen]

Looks like you did a good job packing it for transport.

However, none of the pictures show anything unique.
For instance, where's a picture of the feed assembly?
Does it have a button hook?

The mount looks pretty substantial.
You got the pole. How long is it?
How heavy is the dish ?
Sometimes at night, you can back illuminate old Fiberglas dishes with a super strong light, and see the mesh.

What kind of mover does it have?
?Usually those heavy dishes need a monster to handle the loads.

Sorry for the lack of information on the dish details. It is a one piece fiberglass dish, in very good shape. It is not of a molded construction as my CM 8', but a nice even layup of materials.

The feed is supported by three legs mounted about mid-way between the center and edge. The legs are aluminum tubes and telescopic over the steel scaler assembly with gear clamps to hold the legs at their proper length. I'll put some pics up of the assembly later after I'm home again. Oh, the focal distance was 36".

The mount was on the pipe with about 1/4" larger I.D. than the post. There were some circular shims for the mounting pinch bolts to bear on and the pole was fairly thin gauge, probably 1/8". The post was almost 4' in the ground and set in place with foam. About 20 minutes of digging out 120 degrees down one side 3' deep and a Hi-Lift jack popped it up, then my truck pulled it out of the hole. The dish probably weighs 200-250 lbs as it sits stripped down. Not too bad to handle with three guys.

I'm suprised how good of shape it's in. This will go up before the 12', mainly because there's not much to do other than checking out the actuator and drill the hole and assemble everything.

The mover is a Von Weiss, not sure of the length. I just hope it's in OK shape. The wires are pretty much toast from the weather and will have to be replaced. The case is much different that the SuperJack IIs I've had to beat on to get apart.

Do you suppose the Von Weiss is a true ball screw actuator? My SuperJack IIs are listed on the internet as being ball screws, but they obviously have no clue what a ball screw really is, as the threaded rod just indexes with a nylon nut.

 

[FaT Air]

Ball screw? could be, what's the model # If it is it's $$$$$$$$$$$
obviously have no clue what a ball screw really is:
Acme Nut
http://www.google.com/search?tbm=is...f37b&q=acme+actuator&sa=1&tbm=isch&tbs=imgo:1
Ball Screw
http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=ball%20screw%20actuator&tbs=imgo:1&biw=948&bih=580&sei=paIKUuirLqPq2AWo34C4Cg

 

[toucan-man]

So, Mr. gpflepsen, any news regarding your 10' fiberglass or your 12' Unimesh ??? Enquiring mind wants to know.

Ball screw? could be, what's the model # If it is it's $$$$$$$$$$$
obviously have no clue what a ball screw really is:
Acme Nut
http://www.google.com/search?tbm=is...f37b&q=acme+actuator&sa=1&tbm=isch&tbs=imgo:1
Ball Screw
http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=ball%20screw%20actuator&tbs=imgo:1&biw=948&bih=580&sei=paIKUuirLqPq2AWo34C4Cg

Here's a page extolling the benefits of the ball screw, but it also mentions its liability -- "back drive"; has anyone experienced this ?

http://www.motioncontrolonline.org/i4a/pages/Index.cfm?pageID=3601

Next higher on the food chain is the planetary drive, seems to me the guy with a planetary actuator gets big bragging rights. But that drive is prone to free fall, yikes !

 

[gpflepsen]

No real news yet, both dishes are still sitting idle. I feel like a failure!

For other actuators of interest, Exlar offers some nice ones http://www.exlar.com/product_lines/1-GSX-Series-Motor-Actuators

These babies are roller screws! They have positioning capabilities that we only dream of! At work, we are working to install some of these for small steam turbine governor valve control. These actuators will zip in and out extremely fast, have a lot of thrust capability and should last the lifetime of the dish! They run off low voltage 3-phase and would be kick-ass, if there was a market for spending a few thousand on an actuator system for old has-been dishes.

I need to get the 10'er up before the snow flies... Your prod may be just the thing I needed to re-focus!