Care and Feeding of a 12 foot Paraclipse...

[stogie5150]

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

Whats that for, George?

 

[Mauiguy]

I have attached three lists pertaining to Paraclypse. One grouping is some of the newsletters from 1994. The next has newsletters from 1996, and the last is a price list for paraaclypse, some patriot, and other dishes from the year 2000.

These are provided for informational purposes only and were obtianed from the old paraclypse site when it was on the web.

Some of the information still applies to this day while some of it may be dated.

Use at your own risk.

 

[stogie5150]

I have attached three lists pertaining to Paraclypse. One grouping is some of the newsletters from 1994. The next has newsletters from 1996, and the last is a price list for paraaclypse, some patriot, and other dishes from the year 2000.

These are provided for informational purposes only and were obtianed from the old paraclypse site when it was on the web.

Some of the information still applies to this day while some of it may be dated.

Use at your own risk.

MORE fantasitc info...THANKS AGAIN!

 

[gabshere]

Whats that for, George?

its for adapting a ku lnb to the 1 meter prime* feedhorn

 

[stogie5150]

its for adapting a ku lnb to the 1 meter prime* feedhorn

The LNB I have will bolt right up to the P* flange. They just bolted the round lnb kind of crossways in the square flange of the c/ku setup..looks stupid and it can't work too well but that's how they did it.

 

[Mauiguy]

The LNB I have will bolt right up to the P* flange. They just bolted the round lnb kind of crossways in the square flange of the c/ku setup..looks stupid and it can't work too well but that's how they did it.

When I looked at that photo earlier I thought the Ku lnb looked odd. I did not take particular notice to the wave guide portion. I agree that there is no way it could work correctly the way it was bolted up.

Is there anyway that lnb could be aligned properly to the wave guide?

Kind of makes you wonder who installed it in the first place......

 

[stogie5150]

I was looking in the manual you posted, mauiguy, and I saw that Paraclipse suggests a 3.5 inch pipe for the 12 footer. I noticed that the paraclipse that I am working on has what looks like an aluminum sleeve over the pipe all the way to the ground, with setscrews on all sides of the sleeve every foot or so. Is this sleeve attached to the mount in some way? In other words once I get the dish off the mount is that sleeve going to come off with the motor/mount assembly? Or will the mount assembly separate from the tube?

 

[stogie5150]

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.

I really don't have any intention of using it for KU anyway, I am going to put my voltage controlled C-band LNB on it. But thanks for the info nonetheless.

I noticed this morning that a couple of the panels of mesh are twisted up badly, I have some mesh from a Winegard dish I scrapped earlier this year, I was going to use that to repair it. It won't look as good as the Paraclipse mesh, but I have it and it won't cost me anything.

 

[Mauiguy]

I was looking in the manual you posted, mauiguy, and I saw that Paraclipse suggests a 3.5 inch pipe for the 12 footer. I noticed that the paraclipse that I am working on has what looks like an aluminum sleeve over the pipe all the way to the ground, with setscrews on all sides of the sleeve every foot or so. Is this sleeve attached to the mount in some way? In other words once I get the dish off the mount is that sleeve going to come off with the motor/mount assembly? Or will the mount assembly separate from the tube?

LOl,

One must tread carefully when playing with a paraclypse. On page seven and eight of that paraclypse manual that I posted, you can see how "MY" mount looks. The sleeve ends about two inches below the ring to which the elevation turnbuckle atttaches. (the shaded area on page 8 best shows about how big my mount is)

HOWEVER, your milage may vary. I have gathered as much information on Paraclypse dishes as I can, and I have not yet seen a CD mount with a "pole length" sleeve. But that does not mean one does not exist.

The shorter version that I have has four bolts that look to be about 5/8 heads and they , of course are used to tighten the sleeve and help keep it plumb on the pole. They are spaces 90 degrees apart on the sleeve and about twelve inches separates them top to bottom.

My first dish was a classic with a polar mount. The polar mount was a square stock of steel that slipped over a three inch pole and the square stock was six feet or so in length. The thing weighs a ton. For references I can post that manual.

I have looked at your pictures closely and cannot see a break line just below the lower turnbuckle ring which suggests that you may have a "pole length sleeve".

If so, I would then wonder if you need a 3.5 inch pole to mount it or a 3 inch pole.

Oh the joys.....

The mount itself could be separated, from the sleeve by removing the elevation pivot bolt and the lower turnbuckle bolt, but that may destablize the mount and make it more susceptable to breakage.

On the "pole length sleeve" mounts (polar mounts) that I have removed, I rugged a gin pole sort of thing and used a pulley to lift the pole straight up. Obviously three or four folks could just lift it up if the inside pole is not too corroded, but it certainly becomes top heavy fast.... (did it that way once).

I wish I could offer a more definitive soliution but, until two years ago I had never even seen a CD mount. Most folks out here had the polar ones. I just managed to stumble upon the one i have stored right now. So that started me on the quest to obtain manuals etc.

 

[stogie5150]

Well, just as I figured...everyone is 'busy'....looks like I am going to have a little diesel tractor with a gin pole to take it down, but once I get it down I am going to have to take it apart somewhat to small enough pieces that will fit on my trailer.....

mauiguy anything I should look for or watch out for taking the ribs off? Looks like I will have to remove three, leaving a half of a dish, I think I can handle a little over six foot wide on my trailer no problem.

If I can round up a trailer to haul the tractor, tomorrow looks like d-day. Sorry Brother Anole, there will probably be no pictures, as I will barely have enough people to handle the dish takedown...

 

[stogie5150]

New plan, five guys, no tractor, we attack at dawn. Wish us luck. I am bringing my wife along to take pics.

I looked at the sleeve closer today, it looks like a full length. While I have the help tomorrow I may try to get the mount off the pole....

If I don't post by dark send the rescue squad. Digiblur and Linuxman both have my cell number.....

 

[Mauiguy]

New plan, five guys, no tractor, we attack at dawn. Wish us luck. I am bringing my wife along to take pics.

I looked at the sleeve closer today, it looks like a full length. While I have the help tomorrow I may try to get the mount off the pole....

If I don't post by dark send the rescue squad. Digiblur and Linuxman both have my cell number.....

Good luck..............

Looking forward to hearing how it goes.

 

[Mauiguy]

[
mauiguy anything I should look for or watch out for taking the ribs off? Looks like I will have to remove three, leaving a half of a dish, I think I can handle a little over six foot wide on my trailer no problem.

I am sure that you have all the info you need by now as i am a little late answering this.

If for some reason things do not go as planned, all you really need to remember is that removing the cross truss supports is to clip the retaining clips that hold the mesh in place. You can always make new ones out of stainless wire.

Hope it all goes easily for you. Let us know....

 

[stogie5150]

Success! After a lot of help from friends and family...everything is DONE. I even got a PILE of receivers, too, including a DSR-922 4dtv! ( but no remote for the 4DTV ) I'll have more info soon, right now I need a shower, and we're going have a victory dinner.

I don't have a pic of the dish that's in two pieces yet, but it will come soon, its still on my trailer...LOL

Mauiguy, check out the length of the pipe sticking out of the concrete in the last pic. Thats ALL the pipe the sleeve was holding onto....I don't know HOW that dish made it through Katrina.

 

[gremlin411]

see now you know you do not have to spend a lot of money on a long pole.

LOL !!!!!!

 

[linuxman]

Glad you got it without anyone getting hurt!!!

Looking forward to all the good details.

 

[Mauiguy]

Mauiguy, check out the length of the pipe sticking out of the concrete in the last pic. Thats ALL the pipe the sleeve was holding onto....I don't know HOW that dish made it through Katrina.

One thing about that short pipe. I know it had to make for an easy removal.

And to think that my polar mount (which is a full sleeve mount) has a pole that sticks about six feet into the ground and about seven feet above ground level.....

Congratulations on getting the thing taken down. Pictures are great. Hope to see more when you get it re-installed.

Aloha..

 

[stogie5150]

One thing about that short pipe. I know it had to make for an easy removal.

And to think that my polar mount (which is a full sleeve mount) has a pole that sticks about six feet into the ground and about seven feet above ground level.....

Congratulations on getting the thing taken down. Pictures are great. Hope to see more when you get it re-installed.

Aloha..

...and you'd be very wrong my friend. Getting that off the pole took us the longest time of anything else we did. I had my 72 year old Uncle there with us...he gave us the old time idea of wrapping a chain around the pole, putting a 2X4 in the loop, and torquing the assembly, all the while tapping the pole with hammers. I took the setscrews out and sprayed PB blaster in there, too. That stuff is magic. I finally got it to spin on the pole, then me and my bodybuilding Nephew ( thats us in the pic, I am the fat guy in the blue hat), were able to lift it off. Now, my present dish is on a five foot length ( above ground) of 3.5 inch OD pipe, which is the correct size for the paraclipse...do I cut it off or use the whole thing?

The mesh is screwed on most of one half. The plastic slots are all dry-rotted, its a mess. I have a LOT of work ahead of me. The basic structure is very solid though, the motor is in GREAT shape, no rust under the cover at all, the motor still has a fine coating of oil, like happens with normal use...there are two sets of wires coming from the motor enclosure, I imagine there might be a sensor issue here... the chain I think needs to be removed and soaked in oil for awhile to loosen up....unless someone has a better idea... of course I am going to have to replace all the bolts I removed, most of them broke in two...

Receivers...wow. I got a Chaparral Monterrey 55, an STS Sr110 and some kind of STS signal router that interfaces with the 110, its model number is TM200...all with remotes, and the 922 4dtv with no remote.

Also got an older paraclipse assembly manual, 1991. And manuals for the receivers. Even the 4DTV. I hope the 4DTV isn't dead from not being plugged in...I am thinking about selling that to recoup some money I've had to put out so far...if its still good that is...

I should get started this week on putting humpty-dumpty back together....stay tuned...I think from here on out I will start another thread...I got a feeling this is gonna take awhile...

 

[turbosat]

Nice project STogie!
Wonder how much beer he had to buy, those are big fellows lol.

 

[stogie5150]

Nice project STogie!
Wonder how much beer he had to buy, those are big fellows lol.

That's the BEST part...ALL of them except one ( my nephew) are teetotallers!


BTW I was digging around the the pile of receivers...THERE'S NO POWERCORD FOR THE 4DTV EITHER....

Hello doorstop....

Anybody have a dead 4dtv they wanna sell the powercord and remote for?
It might be dead as a hammer for all I know...no telling how long its been unplugged...