Warped Dish

[Lone Gunman]

I've mentioned before that my 10ft Unimesh dish it warped and now it seems that it's getting worse at trying to lock some feeds I've seen on here. I did a string test on it back a year or so ago and it's about 2" off at the center like it is now. That and the button hook isn't holding the LNBF in the center of the dish either.

So, I'm looking for some input on how to straighten it out and thought about using some small 1/16" SS cables across it 90* to each other and turn buckles to try to pull it back straight?? Question is, has anyone on here done this before with any degree of success?

Was also thinking about trying to move the LNBF/button hook to the center using the same cable/turnbuckle method and again, anyone done this?

Thanks,

 

[N6BY]

Have you tried loosening the bolts that hold the panels together? Maybe after that you can adjust them (with test strings in place) to see if you can take out some of the warp.

If you have to, you might also need to drill out the bolt holes to give you more room for adjustment.

The other thing you could do, if you have a flat garage or driveway, would be to place the dish on it facing down and adjust the panel sections until the dish rim is level all the way around.

 

[KE4EST]

I have used steel cable and turnbuckles on a fiberglass dish. After a year in the sun you can take them off and it will stay, don't know if it would stay on an aluminum dish.
The best way is like N6BY said place it face down and work out the warp in it. You could try the steel cables and turnbuckles first. I'd put a steel cable from the top of the dish down to that button hook also.

 

[primestar31]

I have used steel cable, and turnbuckles to fix a dish that was warped. I have also used cable and turnbuckles to get the buttonhook centered back to normal.

So, it can be done, but on a mesh dish you have to be very careful to keep everything centered equally and properly, without bending/kinking anything as you crank the turnbuckles tighter. Each one, just a little bit in turn, take a measure, etc, etc.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Once it's warped I would throw away And get s new one.

Warped dishes are never the same after they are bent back

 

[Dah-Henny]

My very first BUD was a warped fiberglass POS with a buttonhook feed. I used 1/8 plastic wrapped steel cable with turnbuckles. It worked just fine.

 

[Lone Gunman]

I'm pretty sure that part of the problem is it needs a bit of "tweaking" to get some of the stuff that it hasn't been locking but since I know it's warped I might as well try to correct that before I do anything else with it. The cable deal isn't that hard to do and I won't have to take it off the post to do that one either, which is a plus. If it has to come off the post, it won't go back!

That Raydx dish that I have been testing on that temp mount is actually better than the Unimesh and it needs more tweaking as well but it's working out OK for me as most of the time I can watch two things at once out in my garage, ie, two ball games or a race and a ball game, etc.

Ennywho, you guys have confirmed that the cable deal will work so that will be my course of action going forward since it's the easiest and cheapest to do. Will order the stuff I need this weekend.

Thanks for the input guys!!

 

[JFOK]

Lone Gunman,

Thought I'd revive one of your old posts.
Was wondering how you made out un-warping your dish.
My 7.5 KTI also has some minor warping preventing it from working at its full potential.
May be a spring project for me.

John

 

[Hockeynut]

Steel,Aluminum is actually very forgiving.Unless not properly built from the start then using turn buckles will just make things worse...Granted we are not talking about helping a button hook out!...If the dish does not pass the string test then best thing would be to disassemble the dish panels and start over with the rim of each panel on a flat surface.

If the dish has been warped by physical damage then disregard what I just mentioned.....Have a Birdview here that looks ( Looked ) like a tractor hit the rim of it..Have it fixed and cant see any warpage thru many tests but time will tell when I get it in action..Is a sold dish so a bit different approach for a warpage issue.

 

[JFOK]

Hockeynut,

The warp to my dish occurred when it was being taken down from its 20 foot perch to a more reasonable 8 feet,
It made a slight impact with the ground bending one of its ribs. I was able to bend the rib close to its true form while it was still on the ground and a string test showed it was very close to normal. However, once I got it up on its new pole, the string test showed it still needed some work and eyeballing it from the edge, also showed a slight bend. The result of this warp is that I can't get the full spectrum of the arc. While I'm able to see down to 55W, I have to tweak the dish so it can get down to Anik F1. So now I can only see from 91W with a signal strength averaging 55-60 on most channels to Anik F1 which has signals in the 73-77 range. I'm unable to get all the satellite channels within my dish range on 101w, 103W and 105W. I also noticed that while I can get every channel on 97W, I have to bump it a bit to get the 3764V and 4057V channels, which take all other channels a bit off peak, but still viewable. I can live with this set up for the winter, but in the spring I'd love to get this dish back close to specs and maybe start using Ku on it. It was an awesome Ku performer.

John

 

[Lone Gunman]

John I never did anything with that Unimesh dish. Since I have 3 10 footers and that one is connected to the system in the bedroom so I just record shows it can't lock and view them via PVR instead. It works good enough for what I need it to do for now.

That Raydx dish has turned out to be the best dish I have. It's a 10.5 footer and it's a deep dish as well and it will lock that 16apsk feed on 97 when the Winegard won't. And, believe it or not it's still on that temp mount on the car trailer I brought it home on. That's bad isn't it? It works so well I hate to mess with it. The old saying of "if it ain't broke, you can probably still fix it" applies here!

But back to that Unimesh, I will get to it sooner or later though especially since I'm going to stop taking that Lupus medication I've been on for the past 3 + months next week. Dr told me to stay out of the sun while I was taking that stuff, or, wear a sun block when I go outside and that sucks. Things will change after next week though and that Unimesh is on my list.

 

[JFOK]

Lone Gunman,

Take care of that Lupus first and foremost....health is everything.
I came down with a case of Lyme disease this past week and thankfully, my Dr. immediately started me on antibiotics. Lyme disease has all the hallmarks of having the flu except there is no congestion...just all the aches, pains and fatigue.
Let me know when you start the work on that Unimesh. I'd like to know the procedure you're using.

John

 

[wvman]

Sometimes a few strategically located washers can fix a warped solid dish. A wire mesh is a little more tricky. I'd take the reflector off the mount, remove the feed support legs, lay it down on a flat surface and loosen all the panel bolts. Let it settle a few minutes and start tightening the bolts in a crisscross pattern from the center to the outermost row of bolts. Then look at the outer edge and see how it looks all the way around in comparison to the flat surface it was lying on. Shouldn't be much of a gap , if any around the edge.

If that looks OK, I'd string it and see how that looks. If that's good, then you should be OK to reinstall the feed support legs and check center on the feed. You should be good to go to put the reflector back on the mount. If it was me, I'd stick the mounting bolts through the holes in the ribs, and get a few wooden wedges and tap them into place behind the ribs to move the panels out against the mounting bolts in order to make sure it was out equally all the way around, and then tighten each bolt in a crisscross pattern.

If the panels are realigned, you should be able to look across the face of the dish to see if the outer edge is back in alignment. If it is, there shouldn't be any high or low places when looking across from one side to the other. If they are, that's probably the best it's going to get. If it's too bad, I'd be hunting another dish. That's about all you can do with it. I've done several over the years and that's the best method I found to remedy the problem.

 

[JFOK]

wvman,

As crappy as I felt with the above mentioned Lyme disease, I went out yesterday evening before dark and did a little "panel work."
I was able to increase my viewing range from 91W to a further eastern satellite 87W. In the west I was able to move west from 107W to 113W.
If I felt better and if darkness wasn't closing in, I would have done a little more work. Pleased with with what I accomplished.

John

 

[wvman]

wvman,

As crappy as I felt with the above mentioned Lyme disease, I went out yesterday evening before dark and did a little "panel work."
I was able to increase my viewing range from 91W to a further eastern satellite 87W. In the west I was able to move west from 107W to 113W.
If I felt better and if darkness wasn't closing in, I would have done a little more work. Pleased with with what I accomplished.

John

I hope they get you over the Lyme disease. Had a good friend who had it and he had a really hard time of it. Usually is can be controlled with a course of strong antibiotics. I wish you best and hope it works out for you.

It sounds like you're getting the dish in order. I went today and picked up a Perfect 10 10 footer. I noticed it has some hail damage that's not horrible, but the up side is that there's an Orbitron 10 footer laying on the ground next to it. The panels were in perfect shape until one of the guys picked up on the dish and the weeds had grown through the mesh and they pulled 2 screens out at the bottom of two panels, but those are easily fixed.

Orbitron has three screw at the outer edge of the panel and the rest of the screen slides down a track on both sides of the panel. It makes it easier to repair the panels. I'll pull those two out and sandwich them between 2 pieces of 3/4 plywood and put some screws around the edge to pull the panels back into shape. The guy gave me both dishes, one was still on the poll. I spotted a 3rd dish on a pole on the way back home. I'll check on it later. Right now, I am dish poor.

I need to get with Titanium and see what he has in the way of motor arms. I used the only new one I had left. I like to have a spare on hand, especially with winter coming on.

 

[JFOK]

wvman,

Thanks for your well wishes. I'm hoping I feel much better by the end of this week. By then it will be week 2 with this Lyme disease.
I know there are lingering effects and hope those also diminish with time. I was lucky I was able to accomplish the gains I made with my dish, in the short time I worked on it Saturday night. I'm hoping I can in time, get it close to what it was when new.
Sounds like your having good luck dish hunting. Very few if any C band dishes remain here on the Cape. In the recent past I saw a few, but they are now as scarce as hen's teeth. I keep combing through Craigslist and keeping an eye out, not for myself I don't need another dish, but instead would want others to know about them. I do have an old Dishnet "500 Plus" dish that I may put to Ku use in the future.

John

 

[wvman]

wvman,

Thanks for your well wishes. I'm hoping I feel much better by the end of this week. By then it will be week 2 with this Lyme disease.
I know there are lingering effects and hope those also diminish with time. I was lucky I was able to accomplish the gains I made with my dish, in the short time I worked on it Saturday night. I'm hoping I can in time, get it close to what it was when new.
Sounds like your having good luck dish hunting. Very few if any C band dishes remain here on the Cape. In the recent past I saw a few, but they are now as scarce as hen's teeth. I keep combing through Craigslist and keeping an eye out, not for myself I don't need another dish, but instead would want others to know about them. I do have an old Dishnet "500 Plus" dish that I may put to Ku use in the future.

John

This dish came from an area known for hail storms and it has several small dents in the screen. I've been taking my fingers and pushing the dents out and I really don't think it will make a significant difference in signal level once I get most of them pushed out. It hasn't been in operation for some time, but it's not warped or damaged otherwise. If it's not satisfactory to do what I'm out to do, I can pull the screens off and sandwich them between two pieces of plywood to flatten them back out.

I took two vacation days to work on this dish and put tin on my new building, but as usual, it didn't turn out as planned. I got derailed Saturday & Sunday by two friend's funerals and didn't get as much done as I planned, but at least I'm 90% finished with the tin project, and finished a couple other projects. In any case, you take care and focus on your health. That's priority one. Have a good day.

 

[Lone Gunman]

I can pull the screens off and sandwich them between two pieces of plywood to flatten them back out.

FYI I've had very good luck straightening out mesh panels using a 3" diameter RUBBER hammer on the panels laying on a concrete garage floor. Do one side then flip it and do it again. Worked very well for me.

 

[Lone Gunman]

wvman,

Thanks for your well wishes. I'm hoping I feel much better by the end of this week. By then it will be week 2 with this Lyme disease.
John

My Wife had to go through that treatment last year. She got bit in March, and, had to go the medication route TWICE so don't be surprised if it takes more than one time with yours.

She still has some problems with the bite site swelling and itching like crazy but the flu like symptoms have pretty much been gone since early summer.

 

[wvman]

FYI I've had very good luck straightening out mesh panels using a 3" diameter RUBBER hammer on the panels laying on a concrete garage floor. Do one side then flip it and do it again. Worked very well for me.

That's a good idea. I never thought of doing it that way, but it seems like that would work just as well. Thanks for the tip.