Actuator Woes

[Cameron12]

I have 2- Von Weise actuators, and both have too much play. One was purchased new last year. I tried shimming with no luck. was this a common problem ? 10 foot fiberglass dish. I get most Ku channels, but have to adjust position constantly.

 

[gabshere]

what are you moving with a analog receiver or a v-box type of mover ? oh and if you have the model #'s of the von weise actuators


and Welcome to the group

 

[tvropro]

I had a Von weise many years ago on my 10 foot dish, didn't care for it much. I had the same problem your talking about . When I got my 12 foot I got a 24" Thompson Saginaw and that was back in 89 still tight today.

 

[Cameron12]

4DTV and I believe V-75 or 76

 

[Cameron12]

I am not being smart, but, why do you not use the uniden for fta also? Since I just have the fiberglass since 82 I have the corotor and the Sat Cruiser and I am happy with everything except only a 60 quality on X4. By this question, I mean, is the dss attachment that was made for the feedhorn, not worth the time or is it not good enough or does the other dish lnb give you the circular polarity for the eastern satellites?

 

[tdti1]

I have a Von Weise now I took my Venture off as it was making lots of noise, I will refurb it in the spring, I noticed it was very loose, I called my local dealer he told me to change the nut, I went over to get the nut he gave me a choice of brass or some kind of hard plastic, I asked what he liked best he said his buddy makes the new plastic one and he only had 3 to test, he said he finds it a bit more snug than the brass ones, so I took it home swapped the nut and it is much better now, the original nut was warn out chipped and cracked.

 

[greg47]

That Von weise is too light duty for a fiberglass antenna. A 24" Thompson Saginaw ball screw is what you want for a heavy dish.

 

[Anole]

bigger really is better

For the Ku problem, it might be that you just don't have the accuracy to get to the birds.
Linuxman did some tests in this forum recently, and re-discovered some facts that the old timers apparently already knew:
* put a longer motor on and attach it further out on the dish to get more accuracy
* rebuild the motor with more magnets (where possible) to get more counts and therefore more accuracy
* using a Gbox 3000, in some cases the controller seemed to count on both the reed-switch close and open, doubling the number of counts.
- this gave more accurate positioning, but wouldn't be applicable to your 4DTV

The longer motor and more leverage moves the big dish more easily.
For a heavy fiberglass dish, I assume the suggestions above are well in order: recirculating ball, and long.

 

[Cameron12]

The only bad thing is , even whenI bought the second one, it had the same ammount of play as the old. I guess buying a new nut might be the only alternative, since a new Saginaw will cost $400.00

 

[Cameron12]

I looked at this option before, and it seemed to me I would have to beat it to death to get it out! Can you tell me how hard it was to change?

 

[truckracer]

For the Ku problem, it might be that you just don't have the accuracy to get to the birds.
Linuxman did some tests in this forum recently, and re-discovered some facts that the old timers apparently already knew:
* put a longer motor on and attach it further out on the dish to get more accuracy
* rebuild the motor with more magnets (where possible) to get more counts and therefore more accuracy
* using a Gbox 3000, in some cases the controller seemed to count on both the reed-switch close and open, doubling the number of counts.
- this gave more accurate positioning, but wouldn't be applicable to your 4DTV

The longer motor and more leverage moves the big dish more easily.
For a heavy fiberglass dish, I assume the suggestions above are well in order: recirculating ball, and long.

* put a longer motor on and attach it further out on the dish to get more accuracy



That's what I am doing with my new 10 foot SAMI dish and factory rep send my distributor an email saying I was going to over extend the arc dumping the dish destroying the motor "and he would not take any returns". I can tell you now if he sends me a defective actuator HE WILL TAKE IT BACK IF I HAVE TO DRIVE IT DOWN THERE MYSELF! and credit card payment will be stopped.

I am going to use a 36" actuator on a 10 foot mesh doing the exact above.

I am already doing it on the 7.5' sami mesh I have already and it tracks KU like a dream.

The guy didn't even know there was east/west limit switches on the cam gear in the motor to prevent dumping the dish in addition to the software limits that can be programmed. Never ceases to amaze me how people can be in a business and not know $hit about what they sell.

 

[linuxman]

Never ceases to amaze me how people can be in a business and not know $hit about what they sell.

I know, but there are a lot of them that are!

What's even more amazing is that they actually are able to stay in business!!

That says a lot about our dumbed down society!

 

[mikekohl]

There is no reason to use a 36 inch actuator on a 10-foot SAMI.
A 24 inch model should safely cover all that is physically possible,
when attached to the factory built attachment points. The only way
that a longer actuator would be of any advantage is if it was mounted
so that the moving end was further out from the pivot point. This would
involve modifying the antenna with another bracket.

My impression of the salesperson's statement was that he would be correct in saying that they would not be responsible for damages caused to the antenna by improper installation of a motor drive. The issue is that the additional 12 inch length between a 24 and 36 inch model is of little or no use when installed at the factory set attachment points. 12 extra inches of
actuator tube will be sticking out and probably in your way. You will have to adjust the clamp accordingly to compensate, and make certain that the mechanical limits are set inside the actuator to prevent it from literally wrapping the arm around the pivot. A 24 inch Von Weise V-76-5 has always been more than satisfactory for me in installations on this and similar mesh antennas.

 

[truckracer]

out of the norm

I realize 36" motor is out of the norm, but I would imagine the 36" will last for an eternity since it is not working anywhere near capacity. It is basically moving "air".

I tend to overkill most of the time - it's my personality.

I had a 1000' spool of 10-2 with ground romex left over from a job and wired a lot of my branch circuits with #10awg !!

I fused them at 20 amps- overkill never hurts.

I overbuild most everything-LOL

I however do not appreciate sending someone over 1200.00 dollars and have them telling me they revoke any warranty because I want to overkill a little. I can easily dump a dish with an 18" motor. I have seen it done a few years ago.

That 36" actuator has more pulses per inch on the magnet as well as a longer "geared down" mechanical advantage at the outermost attachment point helping me track KU more accurately with a dish that has a very tight beamwidth (10 feet).

I think the beamwidth is less that 1/2 degree on KU.