Salvaged Venture 24" Actuator

pacificrim

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Oct 5, 2008
1,199
1,117
West Coast Canada
Last week I took down a pretty old Venture 24" actuator that hasn't moved in the last 25 years. I don't know how old it actually is (early 80's?) but I am amazed at how similar it is to my 5 year old Venture 24".

The old fiberglass dish and the arm sitting fully retracted for 25 years
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I took the actuator off the motor and poured 50% acetone and 50% Automatic Trans Fluid into it and let it soak for a week. It didn;t take too long today to get it moving and fully opened up. It is very freely moving now.
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It has a grease fitting that my newer model doesn't have - not yet tried
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2015 model
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80's model is virtually identical
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The 80's model fit onto my 2015 actuator and fit so well that there is no slack anymore!
Interestingly, the newer motor does not work with the 80's actuator because the 80's actuator requires and pin in the shaft to turn the actuator.
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Both motors have the same shape motor driveshaft like this, but the new one (pictured) is missing the pinhole

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This is the very homemade looking pin from the 80's model
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I'm currently using the old motor/newer actuator combo on my 10ft KTI and it works great!
 
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Not a homemade pin, I have a box of assorted roll pins-different sizes. Never know when you need something like this.
Cool. I just looked up a rolled pin and see the reason it was used. You can put it in and then punch it to expand it into a tight fit. Makes sense.
 
I just drilled a hole in my newer motor's drive shaft to accomondate the pin and now the old actuator is on the newer motor and all are swappable.

By swapping the parts as I have them, the newer motor slack does not affect the older actuator and the newer actuator slack is taken away from the snug fit on the older motor. Fixed!

I think it is super cool that these things are so similar.

The old motor also has a handy guide inside the cover.


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