Mounting question

[goaliebob99]

As many of you know I went and pickedup my dish this last weekend. Today I was looking at the mount (pole) that my current dish is on. It looks to be a 3.75 inch mount. The pinnicle looks to be a 4.0 inch mount. Is there anything I can slide in the pinnicles mount like an adapter of sorts to put it on a 3.75 pole or am I going to have to break some concrete and start over with a new pole?

 

[T4Runner]

If your measurements are correct, you are only talking about 1/8" clearance on each side (1/8+1/8=1/4") which can be easily tightened up with the side bolts that lock it down... couldn't it?

 

[Lone Gunman]

I'd check with a local machine shop (small fabrication shop) to see what they have that would "adapt" the two to each other. It would be fairly simple to make a sleeve to put in the 4 inch hole to "shim" it down to the 3.750 size then drill holes in the sleeve where the locking nuts go so they would go through it into the base post. That .250 difference in diameters is only .125 (or 1/8 inch) per side so 1/8 inch wall tubing would work if the proper sizes are available.

And BTW, where did you come up with that 3.750 dimension on that post? I thought all these mounting posts were either 3.5 or 4 inches?

 

[goaliebob99]

You are correct sir.... I mistyped, its 3.5.

 

[brex2001]

K9SAT,

I'm getting that other Pinnacle soon, so I'll have to do some pole adapting myself.

Here's a pdf of two adapters I sketched for both situations. These are not to scale, but they're good enough for your welder to build what you need.

Four 1/2-13 grade 5 bolts ought to be enough to hold the adapter tightly to the pole.

Edit: I see you posted a correction to the pole diameter. Nevermind the one on the left

Oh yeah. Thank you for putting up that listing. I needed another 10ft dish. Much appreciated.

 

[Dishman Dan]

I would go with the adapter method! :up

I had a 4" mount Pinnacle that I tried to hold straight on a 3 1/2" pole with just the bolts until I got around to making a adapter for it. It held straight until I had to fine tune it after a storm and it never was perfectly straight. I did not get around making the adapter but I fixed it with a 10' Channel Master that has the 3 1/2" pole mount!

 

[Lone Gunman]

I've got a 12 ft Conifer that I'm going to bring home soon and it also has a 4 inch mount and I've also got a 3.5 inch post to put it on. I've got a milling machine in my shop so I'll probably have an easier time adapting mine than you guys. I'm leaning toward using some half inch square key stock in pieces about 8 or 10 inches long and tack welding them vertically inside that 4 inch mount. I'll let you know how that works out. ;-)

 

[goaliebob99]

K9SAT,

I'm getting that other Pinnacle soon, so I'll have to do some pole adapting myself.

Here's a pdf of two adapters I sketched for both situations. These are not to scale, but they're good enough for your welder to build what you need.

Four 1/2-13 grade 5 bolts ought to be enough to hold the adapter tightly to the pole.

Edit: I see you posted a correction to the pole diameter. Nevermind the one on the left

Oh yeah. Thank you for putting up that listing. I needed another 10ft dish. Much appreciated.

Yea I was thinking the same thing... I'm going to Ace tommorow to see if they have any 3 1/2 inch Schedule 40 PVC with a 4 inch OD. If I can find one then I can slide it into the mount and it should be a snug fit. Mark the holes where the bolts go into, drill into the PVC and that should hold things down nicely. The PVC wont move inside due to the bolts going through the metal mount and PVC.

Thanks BTW... I figured I would pass it forward!

Edit: Also, I'm going to be on the lookout for another one in my area soon, or someplace to get a few replacement panels. While I dont need them. My hunch is that Cband dish's like this are going to become harder and harder to find. So if anyone has a few replacement panels that they would like to pm me on, let me know. I would like to keep them on hand just incase anything happens in the future. (knock on wood)

 

[dfergie]

That's the same idea a guy came up for to adapt the Directv Slimline dish to a standard sized dish mount, it works

 

[Dishman Dan]

Yea I was thinking the same thing... I'm going to Ace tommorow to see if they have any 3 1/2 inch Schedule 40 PVC with a 4 inch OD. If I can find one then I can slide it into the mount and it should be a snug fit. Mark the holes where the bolts go into, drill into the PVC and that should hold things down nicely. The PVC wont move inside due to the bolts going through the metal mount and PVC.

I never thought of schedule 40, I was always thinking a steel shim.

The "satellite wizard" that helped me said the bolts will be tight and hold. I soon found out they were tight but the dish not square. After he helped me I soon learned why he has problems in receiving different satellites on his setup!

 

[brex2001]

Scedule 40 & 80 Steel pipe dimensions

Living so close to a steel supplier makes actual steel pipe the right choice for me.
Could increase the number of bolts to 6: 3 pairs of bolts running each pair vertical & spaced 120 degrees around so the adapter can be plumbed.
Don't have a chart for schedule 40 or 80 PVC pipe but I'm sure you could find one.

Here's a couple of charts for any of you that might have a need:

 

[Lone Cloud]

At places like Home Depot, they have 1/4 inch x 3/4", 1" and 1 1/2" steel strips. They come in various lengths.

I don't know what your mount looks like, but if it is like an inverted cup that slips over your mast, maybe you could wrap two of those strips around your mast, cut them to exact circumference, and screw them to your mast with countersunk machine screws, tapped right to your existing pole (or to your "cup" mount).

A cheaper way might be to find a pvc pipe or cap with 1/4 inch walls. If it's a little smaller you could cut a two inch section and do one lengthwise cut and then snap it on your mast. probably two would do the job.

I'd try less expensive solutions first.