Especially when aluminum is only getting about 20 cents a pound.
Yeah. It's too bad that we can't get one-fourth the original cost of the antenna......
A suitable length of angle iron should work fine for the actuator, drill a couple of holes and attach to the plate.
I cut down the rib where the actuator connected to. I'm waiting for the paint to dry right now before installing it and seeing if it'll work out the way I believe it will. I repainted the pole but the wife suggested that I paint everything gold instead of flat black. She wanted it to look more valuable than it really is plus she likes lighter colors. I'd like to repaint the new GeoSat antenna flat black or try my hand at repainting in woodland camo. It probably wouldn't void the warranty but who knows?
A square and a Sharpee should make it easy enough to locate where to mount the mount.Likely easier to remove the plate to do the work,just make sure you mark the top of the plate at the top of the arc so you get things oriented correctly.
If I take the hub plate off I'd have to make sure that I don't lose the declination shims. I looked at buying some shims in case I need to fine tune the declination or replace lost ones but the ones I've seen advertised weren't cheap. Of course, I don't have the rest of the shims that came with the Paraclipse. I might look into a modification to add declination bolt(s) instead of using shims - as long as I don't have to do any welding. The hub plate is black so I guess marking it with chalk might make the job of centering the GeoSat antenna mount onto the Paraclipse mount go easier. It doesn't look like I have to be concerned with orientation of the hub plate on the mount, though, but I'll keep it the same - there are 4 holes that go through the declination bracket and hub plate of the Paraclipse that's used to secure 2 of the rib supports so it shouldn't be much of an issue putting it back the same way I took it off.
After I get the actuator mounting arm put on and the actuator attached, I'm going to see what I can do with adding a lube fitting. It will be a bit more difficult since I'm going to be using the 18" actuator that's been sitting in my garage for 10 years. Anyway, I don't think I can use my drill and tap combo bit without drilling into the screw since the actuator pipe is skinnier (smaller diameter) than the bigger boys. At least I know that the actuator still works but it was a PITA to get the pulse sensor wires attached. The 18" actuator wasn't marked as to how much current it draws but I'm willing to bet that it's a lot less than the bigger ones. Too bad there isn't a part number on the actuator but it does have a Venture marking on it. Anyway, an 18" actuator should work just fine on a 1.2 meter dish? If not, I have a 24". I'd rather keep the 24 " as a spare for the 12 footer.
My 1.2 meter should be here tomorrow. Hopefully, this project will go forward without too many hassles. But, it might be a day or 2 before I get it online since I'll have to round up some friends to get it mounted. Too bad I don't some kind of crane to hoist it into place though.