10 foot Unimesh find

[ftageekyyc]

I had a look at a "free, take off my garage roof" 10 foot mesh dish this morning.

To my untrained eye the panels look to be in good condition. The LNB cover says Unimesh, which I assume means the brand of dish.

Talked to the owner while I was there. He says he has a C/Ku LNB on it at the moment and that the mover does not work very well. Says he originally put it up in 1991.

I'd like to try and scoop it quickly before anyone else gets to it, but I may have to do it myself if I want to move fast. Single story garage, lots of room to leave a trailer at the driveway end, then lower things down.

The dish panels are 4 pies and look to be just bolted together. Penetrating oil and a breaker bar, or should I just buzz the bolts off with an angle grinder?

 

[wallyhts]

I had a look at a "free, take off my garage roof" 10 foot mesh dish this morning.

To my untrained eye the panels look to be in good condition. The LNB cover says Unimesh, which I assume means the brand of dish.

Talked to the owner while I was there. He says he has a C/Ku LNB on it at the moment and that the mover does not work very well. Says he originally put it up in 1991.

I'd like to try and scoop it quickly before anyone else gets to it, but I may have to do it myself if I want to move fast. Single story garage, lots of room to leave a trailer at the driveway end, then lower things down.

The dish panels are 4 pies and look to be just bolted together. Penetrating oil and a breaker bar, or should I just buzz the bolts off with an angle grinder?

Nice Find!!!

I would not use an angle grinder unless you have to.

Takes lots of pictures so when you put it back together you will know I always buy new bolts.

 

[Anole]

plan ahead

Post some pictures. I'm sure the guys will have some ideas.
How high is it?

Unless it has an ortho feed, I really wouldn't be impressed with an old Chaparral with a servo.
Nor with whatever analog receiver he might have.
It all sounds pretty standard.

PB Blaster has been recommended, I tried it, and it's great.
A hand held grinder with a cut-off wheel, backed up by a SawZall, are good tools to take.
Think about how to remove dish from mount, or both from pole.
The pole sounds plenty tall to whack off at ground level, and still have plenty to take home.

 

[ftageekyyc]

The pole is just tall enough to allow the dish to clear the peak of the garage roof. The owner says he can reach the LNB by putting a step ladder on the roof.

 

[phlatwound]

That LNB cover does not necessarily mean it's a Unimesh, but it's a good sign. Unimeshes usually have their name printed on the center plate in the dish, sometimes it's real faded/gone though.

Besides the good advice you have already received above, I've found that the bolts that are too rusty to thread off will usually break if you give them a good tug, then they come out easily and are easily replaced later. Take sockets/ratchets, open and box end wrenches and vise grips (in case you round a head).

Unimesh also made a 10' perf (rather than mesh), at a glance they can be mistaken for mesh, and vice versa.

Unimesh is my favorite of the "typical" common brand mesh dishes, they are built a little heavier than a lot of the other brands.

Good luck!

 

[KE4EST]

Nice that is the same dish I use. Yeah I would take a grinder and sawzall with me but don't use if you don't have to. Take some PB Blaster or WD-40 over the day before and get up there with a step ladder and spay everything real good. Then next day or two go get it! I would buy all new hardware. That is what I done. Mine also came with a C/Ku LNBF but was useless to me with the servo. So I use a WSI NS741 it is a C/Ku combo but the voltage is Polarity Switched so it will work great with newer receivers.

Start by taking the actuator off first. Then with this dish if easy to get to from a step ladder like you say you can actually take it apart one section at a time if you have two people. Take off the 4 arms that hold the scaler plate first. Then take it apart section by section from there.
Don't get in a hurry while doing it or you may warp a section and that won't be good(can be fixed, but better if you don't have to).

As Anole said take lots of close up pictures of everything, if you are new at this and putting it back up will be 10 times easier.

Good Luck

 

[ftageekyyc]

Thanks for all the feedback.

I found the scans for the Ust410a that someone had uploaded (don't have they poster's name right in front of me, but thanks) and they seem to describe the dish I was viewing. Assembly order from the manual is to put the dish onto the mount after the mount is on the pole, so...

If I disconnect any wiring first, should I be able to swivel the dish 180 degrees on the pole?

I'm thinking as a general strategy,

1) remove all the "sticky outie bits" first from the front and back, (feed/lnb/braces/actuator)
2) swivel the dish to the right in the picture which is the lane side of the garage
3) remove the dish from the mount then use the two legs of the pole support to help guide the dish onto the roof intact
4) split the dish in half along the roof line, lower the halves down, then split the halves when they are on the ground
4) remove the mount and sundry other bits

I've got to drive the dish 3 hours away, and store it for 3 or 4 months until I can get it installed, so I'll need to take it completely apart.

I'll be taking lots of pre disassembly photos, doing lots of labelling and making sure I have ways to store parts when I tackle.

Edit - had just posted before I saw the entry above, thanks...

 

[Kraven]

Dont store it, I have enough room in my garage for it !

 

[ftageekyyc]

I may still go have a look at that 12 foot Paraclipse in Edmonton, but this one looks like less work...

If we ever drive to Montreal for Just For Laughs or the Jazz Festival, and one of them is still in pieces, maybe I'll toss it in the trunk...

 

[Lak7]

Don't bother trying to save any of the nuts n bolts.