Repairing My Dish
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What kinda conduit Fat Air? electrical metal conduit? I'm an electrician too so I have some around the house or I can buy a length if needed. I'll still need some patterns though cuz all I have are offset dishes with the fixed mounted arms. Thanks Polgyver.
Thin wall electrical conduit works great and 1/2" is more than adequate size. Once you determine the correct location of the "sweet spot" where the LNBF will be placed, cut the conduit slightly over length, flatten the ends in a vice and drill mounting holes. Simple and cheap!
Remember to drill some drainage holes or leave the lower end of the pipe slightly under compressed so the conduit doesn't rust out in a few years.
Remember to drill some drainage holes or leave the lower end of the pipe slightly under compressed so the conduit doesn't rust out in a few years.
Right click on a link,either in the address bar or your bookmarks,COPY,then in your post,right click and PASTE.viola
Crucial will be the distance to hold the lnbf with the center arm and the aiming angle accrued. Make this piece adjustable using two different sizes of square tube that slide and sized to fit the square cup. Mount the dish on a pole and experiment first being where the signal is best for the satellite you want (pics too); then put the round braces of the center onto the center bracket you have made.
I M watching Dish Nation at 3 PM on FOX Anchorage, ALASKA C band 3760 H 25194 AMC 7 DVB-S mpeg 2
I M watching Dish Nation at 3 PM on FOX Anchorage, ALASKA C band 3760 H 25194 AMC 7 DVB-S mpeg 2
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Yup, I'll try to locate some rectangular tubing soon, I think it will be better suited for the center arm. I'll check the hardware store, I might even be able to salvage some from an old metal bed. It wont be heavy, the beds are made from thin metal tubing, it might even be lighter than the conduit.
Not my intention but for the sake of curiosity. There is also the idea of playing with the design in terms of Offset or Front feet but changing from Offset to Front Feed will change my elevation settings right, what else will be affected by this ?
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By "Front Feed" do you mean a prime focus?? If so, it's really not a worthwhile project. This is because a parabola only has one 'focus'.
The prime focus dish is a parabola. An offset is a 'slice' of a prime focus dish. The slice emanates from the center of the prime focus at offset degrees.
In this diagram of a parabola the offset dish could be from point V to P3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Parabola_with_focus_and_arbitrary_line.svg
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Oh, the dish lays flat if it is designed for prime focus; but can be used at offset; but a offset dish does not sit flat it is designed to a offset for it uses the dish to gain from the shape it aims at; the parabolic of the dish which if tryed at prime would not be efficient to the parabola.
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Actually; a 4 foot (1.2 meter) dish costs only about 500 us dollars. They are available and are one piece steel; takes only a few minutes to put together. Fixing the one pictured is really not worth the time; if time is worth average 50 per hour wages.
My dish is an offset and I will be restoring it to its original state and using it as it was meant to be used.The question was just out of curiosity like I said but I understand now. Its very interesting when you think about it though.
Well you are Richyrich, I'm not. I cant afford that, besides I like the challenge I'll enjoy restoring this dish. Thanks again to everyone for the tips and advice.
Hi, TTSE,
As an electrician, you know how to use various pipes and clamps... If you still do not have original LNBF support bar, perhaps you could try
other shapes, like aluminum blinds track, or, aluminum shower curtain pipe, or, tubes from folded beach chair.
To find the focal spot, you can use a few small mirrors, size 1/4" or 1/2, even 1", attached to various places on the dish face with double-sided glue tape (use thin tape, as other, sponge-type and thick, will not guarantee that the mirror would represent the dish surface).
Set up your dish on a mast or stand, direct it towards the Sun, and search for reflections with a piece of cardboard, trying to get the reflections merge together in one spot, sized approximately 1". It will be possible with only one elevation (altitude) setting, so, you will need to adjust it on the bracket, probably in a few trials.
Once you get the spots merged, measure 2 lengths from the spot : one to the bottom to the dish, the other to the top.
If the bottom length will be, for example, 26", you could use a bar, say, 34" long - fasten it at 27-th inch under the dish, so there will be a piece 7" long sticking out of the dish behind it. This will give you good leverage for additional (10"- 12")bar, attached to the 2 plastic parallel ridges which reinforce your dish.
For Galaxy 19 received from Port Of Spain, azimuth is 255.4 degree, and elevation 47.3
Tomorrow, March 1, the Sun will be at this azimuth at time : 4.14 PM, its elevation will be 28.7 at this time.
Your Sun outage will be March 15, at 3.00 PM, and March 16, at 2.55 PM (the Sun's elevation will be 47.0 and 48.3).
Cheers, polgyver
As an electrician, you know how to use various pipes and clamps... If you still do not have original LNBF support bar, perhaps you could try
other shapes, like aluminum blinds track, or, aluminum shower curtain pipe, or, tubes from folded beach chair.
To find the focal spot, you can use a few small mirrors, size 1/4" or 1/2, even 1", attached to various places on the dish face with double-sided glue tape (use thin tape, as other, sponge-type and thick, will not guarantee that the mirror would represent the dish surface).
Set up your dish on a mast or stand, direct it towards the Sun, and search for reflections with a piece of cardboard, trying to get the reflections merge together in one spot, sized approximately 1". It will be possible with only one elevation (altitude) setting, so, you will need to adjust it on the bracket, probably in a few trials.
Once you get the spots merged, measure 2 lengths from the spot : one to the bottom to the dish, the other to the top.
If the bottom length will be, for example, 26", you could use a bar, say, 34" long - fasten it at 27-th inch under the dish, so there will be a piece 7" long sticking out of the dish behind it. This will give you good leverage for additional (10"- 12")bar, attached to the 2 plastic parallel ridges which reinforce your dish.
For Galaxy 19 received from Port Of Spain, azimuth is 255.4 degree, and elevation 47.3
Tomorrow, March 1, the Sun will be at this azimuth at time : 4.14 PM, its elevation will be 28.7 at this time.
Your Sun outage will be March 15, at 3.00 PM, and March 16, at 2.55 PM (the Sun's elevation will be 47.0 and 48.3).
Cheers, polgyver
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