Replacment polar plastic bushing/bearing

[delta_charlie]

Hi all, I'm just about ready to start putting up my 10 foot C-band dish and would really like to try and find a replacement polar bushing.

I believe the hub assembly was made by Omega Systems and the plastic part I need is 7 5/8 inches long with a ID of 1 7/8 inch and an OD of 2 1/16. The plastic is about 1 1/16 thick and I think it might be made of polyethylene.

I checked standard PVC and it is between 1 1/2 inch and 2 inch PVC. It is also thinner then SCH 40.

The plastic bushing may have been a cut sheet that was rolled up using heat. I have been looking around town for polyethylene sheet but so far no luck.

Thinking of maybe trying to cut a section out of a plastic 5 gallon pail and roll it using a heat gun.

Anybody have any ideas that might work better?

Thanks, DC

 

[phlatwound]

I don't know if you could get it to roll up in that small a diameter, but you might try to find a piece of flat steel (or aluminum) sheet of approximately 29-31 gauge.

This gauge (in steel) is commonly used in agricultural and residential metal siding/roofing, I believe aluminum sheet is sized in thousandths (rather than gauge). Lumberyards probably sell something similar for a roof flashing (in aluminum).

It would take some experimenting to get the correct length that would provide the correct wall "thickness", but you could just cut a strip that was 7 5/8" wide and go from there.

Of course, any good machine shop could make exactly what you need out of a piece of round bar stock.

 

[Cadsulfide]

Google McMaster-Carr and order a couple of Brass flange bushings, undersized on the id if needs be. Drill them out to the correct id and grease the P#ss out of them. Will work forever, only a couple of bucks.

 

[delta_charlie]

Google McMaster-Carr and order a couple of Brass flange bushings, undersized on the id if needs be. Drill them out to the correct id and grease the P#ss out of them. Will work forever, only a couple of bucks.

Thanks for suggesting McMaster-Carr, I should have thought of them. I have used this company in the past and even had an old catalog at work. While looking through the index I found they had small plastic sheets at low prices. Decided to try a Polypropylene sheet first and see if I can roll it to shape using a heat gun. My best guess is the original bushing was made with this plastic.

If I can't get it to roll up with the heat I will look into the brass bushing.

Take care, DC

 

[Cadsulfide]

They have plastic bushings too,