Phlat's Birdview #2

[phlatwound]

Here's a new thread and some pics of my second Birdview:

After a couple of years of looking, at hundreds of dishes all around SW MO I have finally located and procured a Birdview solid.............and it was within a mile of my house.

I have driven past this dish for almost 25 years, it was within 100 feet of the road but was not visible until the people tore down an old shed that hid it. My eyes about popped out of my head when I saw it, took me a couple of days to find out who to talk to, and they were glad to find someone who wanted it.

When I found it it looked like this:

 

[phlatwound]

Here's some pics of the removal, no broken bolts on this one!:

 

[phlatwound]

Got it home, disassembly has begun:

 

[lonewolf85]

Hey phlatwound congrats on the birdview dish looks like a nice one and you can't beat free.

 

[Corrado]

Congrats on the find, Phlat.

Hopefully someday I can join the BVOC too.

 

[turbosat]

very lucky find close to home

Can't wait to see it cleaned up and working !
They sure used big pipe for those things, I would be tempted to rent a backhoe to
dig that out of the ground, lol.

 

[stogie5150]

Looking good Brother Phlat! :up

 

[phlatwound]

Thanks, all. I gave Birdy2 a bath last night, if the sun ever comes out again I'll have some more pics.

We just broke enough concrete off the top of that one so we could cut it off about 6" below ground. That 6" tubing fits inside 6" Sch40 pipe perfectly, you really only need about a foot of the factory tubing if you weld it to some pipe.

I've been so busy "harvesting" (and waiting for an auger rig) that I haven't had time to "plant" any!

 

[voomvoom]

Congratulations phlatwound! Thanks for the pictures!

 

[Comptech]

Thanks, all. I gave Birdy2 a bath last night, if the sun ever comes out again I'll have some more pics.

We just broke enough concrete off the top of that one so we could cut it off about 6" below ground. That 6" tubing fits inside 6" Sch40 pipe perfectly, you really only need about a foot of the factory tubing if you weld it to some pipe.

I've been so busy "harvesting" (and waiting for an auger rig) that I haven't had time to "plant" any!

Thanks for the tip on the schedule 40 pipe.I need to extend my pole by about three feet. Congrats on the BV find.

 

[Anole]

Great looking Birdview solid.
I'm sure the front will clean up as nice as the back.

Super tip on the pipe.
Though, finding 3' of it and getting it welded might be a task.
Still, compared to digging out the concrete on mine, it might be a great idea.

We were chatting about the difference between the casting which holds the screw shaft.
Hope you will give us a couple of side-by-side pictures when you have the chance.
One appears to be an aluminum ? die-casting. Very smooth.
The other is a very rough casting which I took to be sand-cast iron, due to the look and rusty finish.
Both may be aluminum for all I know.
Keep us informed! - :up

 

[linuxman]

Great Job!

Love those pictures!!!

I recognize that red clay and rocks.

 

[phlatwound]

...........We were chatting about the difference between the casting which holds the screw shaft.
Hope you will give us a couple of side-by-side pictures when you have the chance.
One appears to be an aluminum ? die-casting. Very smooth.
The other is a very rough casting which I took to be sand-cast iron, due to the look and rusty finish.
Both may be aluminum for all I know.
Keep us informed! - :up

At long last here are some comparison pics of the 2 mount casting types.

My magnet says that the rusty rougher one is cast iron and the other is aluminum.

I'm guessing somewhere along the line BV changed to aluminum as the serial number of the iron casting mount is much lower that the numbers on my other 2 mounts, and both of those are made of aluminum.

 

[phlatwound]

Finally got the auger rig down here and punched a couple of holes for some BV pipe mounts. :up

We got a little over 4 feet for the longer pipe, and about 40" for the shorter one.

 

[phlatwound]

I have 3 BV H-H mounts, 1 each of 37:1, 70:1 and 110:1 and was wondering:

Will there be any difference in performance between them besides the speed the dish moves?

Will the ratio have any effect on the count resolution/pointing accuracy?

And, is that ratio determined in the little gearbox that attaches to the end of the motor, or are there other factors involved?

Pros and cons of the different ratios?

I am planning to put up one BV solid to start, and most likely put my 4' Prodelin on another of the BV mounts.

 

[turbosat]

I like pic2, the dog is so unconcerned, lol.

 

[phlatwound]

I like pic2, the dog is so unconcerned, lol.

That goofy hound isn't afraid of fireworks, thunder, guns.....he was laying about a foot from that auger most of the time it was digging.

 

[stogie5150]

I have 3 BV H-H mounts, 1 each of 37:1, 70:1 and 110:1 and was wondering:

Will there be any difference in performance between them besides the speed the dish moves?

Will the ratio have any effect on the count resolution/pointing accuracy?

And, is that ratio determined in the little gearbox that attaches to the end of the motor, or are there other factors involved?

Pros and cons of the different ratios?

I am planning to put up one BV solid to start, and most likely put my 4' Prodelin on another of the BV mounts.

Incredibly enough, my 37:1 mount hauls the mail, but it always stops right on the button. But if you have a slower mount, I'd go with it, it will help you with ku, depending of course what your magnet wheel does in the end....If it were me I'd use the slowest.

I think the difference is all in the gearboxes. But I ain't sure about that....

My Paraclipse moves nice and slow.....and precise.

 

[phlatwound]

Incredibly enough, my 37:1 mount hauls the mail, but it always stops right on the button. But if you have a slower mount, I'd go with it, it will help you with ku, depending of course what your magnet wheel does in the end....If it were me I'd use the slowest.

I think the difference is all in the gearboxes. But I ain't sure about that....

My Paraclipse moves nice and slow.....and precise.

So far the consensus says the lower ratio mounts are the way to go, I'll trade speed for accuracy any day.

Once you get rid of the slop in that shaft coupler there isn't hardly any play in the worm-to-gear conection.

I think the ratio difference is all in the gearboxes also, the worm shaft appears the same on all 3 of my mounts. I guess the motor rpm would affect the speed, but not the ratio, not sure if all 3 motors are the same speed.

The 2 motors in these latest pics are both Von Weiss, but the motor on the 110:1 mount looks different, I'll post a pic of it soon.

And on the magnet wheel caper, my latest thought is to drill and tap the end of the worm shaft (there is already a small, shallow hole there) for 1/4"-5/16" piece of allthread, and attach the magnet wheel to that end, thoughts anyone?

 

[Anole]

Let's see now... I researched this motor question a while back.
You might look through previous posts, but as best I recall...
The 110 gearbox had a faster motor, which pulled more power.
So, I think the speed would be about the same as the 72:1
Yea, I'm sure I posted... go have a look... made a table comparing all three.
But not my thread... maybe in Stogies or Linuxmans threads...??

But as Stogie said, everyone seems quite happy withe the zippy performance of the 37:1, so no points off for using it.