Care and Feeding of a 12 foot Paraclipse...

**linuxman** · 07-13-2008 07:17 PM

Originally Posted by melgarga

It's a generation gap thing. I have used the term "Dueling Banjos" once to infer something to some younger peeps and got basicly the same reaction as yours.......lol. Might also try IMDB for movie info.....good site, even the "free side"
One of my daughters said she's afraid to bring anyone to my house cause comming thru the gate and down the drive it looks like somewhere out of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" Cant really see how that's a bad thing. Keeps the tourist and the curious away...........
And dont even get me started on "Blazing Saddles" and all the terminology ol' crazy Mel has given the public that the younger folks have no idea of the source.....BADGES! We dont NEED no stinking badges!.....hehehehe
Picked me up 2 Birdies w/irds this weeekend guys...one solid and one perf'd........I'll u'l some pics later for posterity sake. dang it......now Linuxman is doing a Whois on my IP.....lol I can almost feel MS Virtual Earth bearing down on me........

You got me ROFLOL.

We'll look forward to the pictures of your Birdviews.

"We know where you are".

Just kidding! Unfortunately, I don't have time right now to do the tracking thing.

**linuxman** · 07-13-2008 07:17 PM

Thanks for posting the instructions Mauiguy!

**stogie5150** · 07-13-2008 09:36 PM

Originally Posted by Mauiguy

Thank you. Attached is the paraclypse assembly manual

Thanks!

FANTASTIC information! Exactly what I needed! the three bolts holding the mount to the backing plate were my first thought on how to remove it. I am probably going to go back Tuesday and see if I can break them loose (if not more PB Blaster), take the feed mount off, and line up some help, might try to get it this coming weekend if everything comes together.

Also nice to see a regular actuator motor under that cover, too. From the shape of the chain on this dish though, I am going to have to take that off and soak it well in oil before I even try to operate it.

**Mauiguy** · 07-13-2008 10:51 PM

Originally Posted by stogie5150

Thanks!

FANTASTIC information! Exactly what I needed! the three bolts holding the mount to the backing plate were my first thought on how to remove it. I am probably going to go back Tuesday and see if I can break them loose (if not more PB Blaster), take the feed mount off, and line up some help, might try to get it this coming weekend if everything comes together.

Also nice to see a regular actuator motor under that cover, too. From the shape of the chain on this dish though, I am going to have to take that off and soak it well in oil before I even try to operate it.

I have looked at my chain just to see how it is all assembled, and I think you might be able to replace the original with one from a motor cycle. Back when paraclypse was still active, I had a distinct impression that they were using as many pre manufactured as possible.

FYI that rear hub plate from which you will be removing the bolts is made from aluminum too. I have heard of folks breaking those too.

Recently I took the remains of a twelve foot paraclypse to the recycle place. The total weight of the dish including the backing plates and mesh (with out the mount) was in the neighborhood of one hundred seventy pounds.

Two reasonably fit young guys could take it down I think

**Mauiguy** · 07-13-2008 10:56 PM

Originally Posted by linuxman

Thanks for posting the instructions Mauiguy!

My pleasure.
I just emailed Stogie, and I have almost all of the old technical bulletins that the paraclypse folks used to post on the internet. I will dig through my stuff and post them here for informational purposes. There is some interesting stuff in there.

Aloha

**stogie5150** · 07-14-2008 06:40 AM

Originally Posted by Mauiguy

I have looked at my chain just to see how it is all assembled, and I think you might be able to replace the original with one from a motor cycle. Back when paraclypse was still active, I had a distinct impression that they were using as many pre manufactured as possible.

FYI that rear hub plate from which you will be removing the bolts is made from aluminum too. I have heard of folks breaking those too.

Recently I took the remains of a twelve foot paraclypse to the recycle place. The total weight of the dish including the backing plates and mesh (with out the mount) was in the neighborhood of one hundred seventy pounds.

Two reasonably fit young guys could take it down I think

Yes, I used to be an aluminum shipfitter (helped build the hovercraft the Navy use,LCAC), so I know how brittle aluminum, especially cast aluminum, can be. I plan on at least four guys to help me get it down to make dang sure we have NO mishaps. Once I get it here at home I can use a tractor with a boom pole that I have access to, to reset the dish on the mount, if need be.

Keep the good info coming! And thanks again!

**Mauiguy** · 07-14-2008 01:01 PM

Originally Posted by stogie5150

Yes, I used to be an aluminum shipfitter (helped build the hovercraft the Navy use,LCAC), so I know how brittle aluminum, especially cast aluminum, can be. I plan on at least four guys to help me get it down to make dang sure we have NO mishaps. Once I get it here at home I can use a tractor with a boom pole that I have access to, to reset the dish on the mount, if need be.

Keep the good info coming! And thanks again!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have several of the technical support newsletters that Paraclypse used to publish on the web. I am willing to upload those to this site as long as none of the moderators object.

These newsletters include such information as setting declination on the standard Paraclypse dish using the shim method etc. I also have a price list for the Paraclypse dishes from 2000. This list includes the paraclypse classic dishes, along with the hydro dishes, eclipse dishes and some patriot dishes...

Stogie, just for your information the Web list price for your dish back in 2000 was....1,995.00.

I will scan the documents to PDF and if I receive no objections I will post them here.

**stogie5150** · 07-14-2008 02:47 PM

Went back to the dish today, took some more pics and harvested the feed and lnb's....

Then the Rains came. LOL

Oh well go back tomorrow...

Had some high-dollar LNB's on that puppy...I am already seeing that KU LNB on a 1m P* that I have on standby...it has a round mounting plate...

**gabshere** · 07-14-2008 03:27 PM

i will be watching this thread closely can you guess what i found

they make a adapter mounting plate, i know i have one or two here

**Mauiguy** · 07-14-2008 03:43 PM

Originally Posted by stogie5150

Went back to the dish today, took some more pics and harvested the feed and lnb's....

Then the Rains came. LOL

Oh well go back tomorrow...

Had some high-dollar LNB's on that puppy...I am already seeing that KU LNB on a 1m P* that I have on standby...it has a round mounting plate...

Stogie,

At one time Paraclypse upgraded their mesh to smaller holes in order to get better Ku reception. It appears that you do not have that upgrade on your dish. Let me reassure you that you will do fine with that mesh. My dish receives all ku feeds that I have attempted to receive.

The reason I mention the mesh stuff, is that they also changed how the mesh was mounted on the trusses. The original had the mesh sort of set on the surface of the truss along a grooved rib. Once all of the clips were installed there was a plastic strip that then snapped in to the grove to secure the edges of the mesh.

If you do not remove the plastic, you may find that it is almost impossible to reinstall mesh where you need to do so.

Removal of those strips can usually be accomplished by sliding them out of the rib. With the aluminum there may be some corrosipon issues, but if you can save the strips and then reuse them it would be to your advantage in keeping a parabolic surface.

The manual I posted does not discuss these retaining strips as that particular model did not incorporate them.

Later modifications to the Paraclypse design incorporated grooves on the sides of the trusses into which the mesh would slide. Then the mesh was clipped to the support rings. When they made that version they went to a denser mesh which increased the metal to 55 percent instead of 37 percent..

I have an even older manual for the paraclypse that did not incorporate any type of groove or plastic cap material to secure the mesh. Apparently they used a "U" shaped wire to hold the mesh down on the trusses. In addition it had a button hook type feed.

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