Motorized Primestar 84e

[stogie5150]

Ok y'all....here it is...finished. My motorized 84e Oval Primestar. I did the mount by using a skew plate off of a D* Phase 3 dish, cut the arm off the skew plate, center it up on the aluminum plate, match drill the holes. I even used the reflector bolts from the D* dish to mount the skew plate to the reflector plate, too. Recycle, baby . I will say this though, Drill the holes to mount the reflector to the plate first, before you match drill the skew mount. makes it easier.
I did have to grind the skew plate just a little on the bottom two bolts to clear the reflector to plate bolts. but other than that it was straightforward.

When I mounted it to the sg2100, I ended up having to put a piece of thin thin PVC pipe over the motor shaft to make the D* mount fit TIGHT.

For the lnb, I was having trouble with the stock P* lnb driving the meter on my Sonicview 4000 crazy, so I took it off and screwed a hose clamp to the center of the stock lnb mount and mounted up an Invacom Quad. Signal bounce problem solved, mostly. The lnb didn't fit real well in the 20mm neck , but I wasn't going to cut the plastic on a 60.00 lnb, either. So I just slapped it in there and it did just fine.

I'm proud of it.

 

[turbosat]

Stogie you are a slick innervator lol. Looks great (except last picture, dirty $@! birds)
Now, How does it work?? Got it tracking ok , with no skew problems? How bout that little skinny clamp, is it enough to hold that lnbf? I might even be able to tackle that task now.
thanks for the pics too, they really help a dummy like me

 

[starman345]

Nice setup, you put some work into that! I can't tell by the picture, is the shaft on the SG-2100 the stock 42mm one or the 50mm? How thin, thin is the pvc pipe you used to shim it.

 

[BarneyBean]

I've been thinking about this for a week now and seeing this really puts me in the mood for tinkering around with my Primestar. In fact I think I'm gonna order my motor now.

 

[iafirebuff]

Looks Great!

 

[linuxman]

Nice looking Dish!!

I like to see creative engineering!

Fred

 

[stogie5150]

Now, How does it work?? Got it tracking ok , with no skew problems? How bout that little skinny clamp, is it enough to hold that lnbf?

Works fantastic so far. Well after I moved the assembly down the pole for added stiffness ( I do NOT recommend fence pipe for a motorized dish, mine is filled with concrete and it still moves!) Skew is fine, the motor does it. LNB clamp is a stainless steel hose clamp screwed to the aluminum arm, I should have NO problems with that.

 

[stogie5150]

Nice setup, you put some work into that! I can't tell by the picture, is the shaft on the SG-2100 the stock 42mm one or the 50mm? How thin, thin is the pvc pipe you used to shim it.

Stock 42mm shaft. the pipe I used was the straight part of a plumbing P-trap, I think. The pipe couldn't be more than 1/16 inch thick wall. I cut a piece to fit the shaft, split it, and slid it on the shaft,just far enough to let the mount grip the motor shaft along the length. You have to leave room at the top to put the top bolt through and through the shaft. I had to slightly enlarge the holes in the mount ( not the motor) to get that to line up because of stretching the mount diameter a little too much didn't let the holes line up. But I wanted it TIGHT. It is. :up

took me about 3 hours to fab the mount, not counting the shimming part that I had to do once I figured out the slop was going to be a problem.


....Thanks for the kudos too, y'all, I used to be a shipfitter in a former life so that makes it easier to freeform fabricate when I need to...

 

[Mr Tony]

Very nice setup

 

[gabshere]

looks great , couple more and the neighbors will start asking questions

then just get a couple of dishes and mount them on windshield wiper motors and let em go back and forth , then tell em your tracking stuff

 

[digiblur]

Is there a difference in signal due to using a non-oval feedhorn on this dish?

 

[stogie5150]

Is there a difference in signal due to using a non-oval feedhorn on this dish?

Yeah. the Invacom is BETTER. I assume it has something to do with gain but the Invacom is going a great job. And besides, I needed the extra outputs!

 

[Tron]

Looks absolutely perfect, Stogie! Now, if the nasty Pecan tree just above and to the north of my dish farm would stop shedding its Spring... squiggly things.... I could get started with my 87w/91w

 

[PopcornNMore]

Very nice!

I also used 2 3/8" fence post filled with concrete and it vibrates a lot. I need to replace the pipe someday soon. And I am using a 1.2m dish motorized on the fence post.

 

[ChuckBoozer]

Great set-up, Stogie! I love to see Primestars in action!

After cutting my teeth with my stationary Primestar 84E set-up for a short while, I decided that I wanted to go ahead and "get motorized".

So I picked up a used HH100, swapped out my stock LNB with an Invacom QPF-031 and have been extremely happy with the results!

Posted these pics in another thread, but thought I'd share it again with the group. Thanks again for everyone's help along the way as I fumbled my way though it! :up

 

[turbosat]

Wow that ones almost in the pond!! I'd be too busy watching for snakes to work on a dish there.

 

[ChuckBoozer]

Wow that ones almost in the pond!! I'd be too busy watching for snakes to work on a dish there.

Closer than you think - when I was burying the pole, water was filling up the hole almost as fast as I could dig!

Unfortunately, due to many large trees in my yard, I am limited to where I can place the dish and get a clear line of sight. This area is approx. 125 ft. behind my house.

With regards to the snakes - trust me, there are plenty around! I try to keep them at bay by keeping the brush cut low.

 

[gabshere]

great pics can you post us a couple of signal quality's with that QPF-031

 

[ChuckBoozer]

great pics can you post us a couple of signal quality's with that QPF-031

Any particular Sats/TP's you are interested in?

 

[gabshere]

oh just a couple a strong and weak from maybe 2 sats

g10
11720v
11800v
12104v

galaxy 25 97w
11835V
12083V
12175V