Anyone build their own roof mount?

[TiminMb]

Anyone build their own roof mount for a motorized dish? I'm tired of trying to get a roof mount perfectly plumb, not being able to tighten the mounts without crushing the thin walled tubing.

I'm picturing somethign like an H shaped base that spans the roof joists. At the ends of the H's 4 supports with turnbuckles so that the precise position of the centre mast can be set after mounting. Centre mast would be a decent diameter tube with thick enough walls that it doesn't crush when I tighten the motor mounts. I'm not sure why I would have to put a bend in the centre tube like the factory mounts. I don't see a clearance issue when using an SG2100 motor.

Anyone have any ideas they would like to contribute to this project?

 

[mastermesh]

I thought about it but ended up going with a roof mount from Soudon. It's true that getting roof mount perfecly plumb is a pain, but it's not that much of a pain. I finally got mine to work by figuring out which direction the thing leans just a tad due to gravity and unlevelness of house shingles that I originally aligned to and putting a couple of screws further up the slope and to the right of the dish since it leaned just a tad to the left and down the slope over time due to gravity... anyways, ran lots of copper wire from the screws to the mount, wrapping around the holes near the top and tweaking with the level on top of the pole, via little extra bends in wire, etc. May look like crap, but it works fine and dandy and I'm right smack on the arc. Even if the wind blows dish off a little, I can nudge left and right from the reciever, chaning usals from 101 to 101.5, etc. since that baby ain't going anywhere anytime soon... only wind problem knocks it left or right, not up or down.

 

[Tron]

The roof mounts that I use have spacers across the bolts that go through the tube so that the tube isn't crushed when the bolts are tightened. I got these mounts used from a VSAT installer locally, and they have worked well for my dishes. I just clamped a 1 5/8" 5.5' fence pole to my motorized mount for a Winegard Square Shooter OTA DTV antenna. Even with this pole attached, the mount is very secure.

I'm not sure who manufactures these mounts, but the reinforcement the spacer offers in the pole keeps it from crushing when the bolts are tightened. You might be able to find such spacers for a 2 3/8" fence post at Lowes or Home Depot.

 

[TiminMb]

The part I'm still tossing around is how to construct the turnbuckles. I was thinking of buying 4 turnbuckles and welding struts on each end. There there's the problem of needing some kind of heim joint or spherical rod end to allow some movement as you adjust it. Trip to the surplus store (Princess Auto) should provide me with some options.

 

[mastermesh]

Good luck with your project if you do plan on doing it. Sounds like fun. Please post pics and any blueprints if possible. If not, maybe you can get really good at it and start making custom made mounts and sell them to others cheaper than can be had with what can be bought elsewhere. Biggest complaint I'd say I've had with my mount from Soudon has been that gravity tends to pull it down the slope of house a bit, so if you could work out some system that would cause that sort of issue to be nullified it'll probably be a success, assuming you can make the pole plumb and make it stay that way.