where to find 3" ID pipe or post?

[cermak]

I have a Sadoun 180cm dish with a polar mount and a DX242 C-band lnb with flat scaler. I have purchased a 18" actuator and Vbox controller. So I think I have the equipment side of things OK.

Here's the question, though. Where do I find the 3" inner diameter post? I need quite a length as I would like to have it 5 feet up and weather in northern Missouri requires placing it 3 feet down.

Thanks for any words of wisdom. I have installed a couple ku band systems, and I have read some instructions available online and looked at pics, so I think I'll be OK once I get my post!

 

[johann12]

When I got my first free 7 1/2 foot dish, I did not get a pole with it.
I bought a 3 inch EMT (electrical metal conduit) at a electrical supply house.
But this a thin wall pipe, so when I planted it, I filled the pipe with concrete to give it more strength.
I am confused that you ask for an 3 inch inner diameter pipe.
My polar mount takes a 3 1/2 inch outside diameter pipe and the 3 inch EMT pipe is perfect for that.
I checked with Sadoun and they sell a 3 inch pipe but it does not say if it is inside or outside diameter. Also what they sell is a short pipe.
The cost was $40 for an 10 foot EMT pipe at the electrical supply house.
A rigid pipe would had been over $100, but this would be a thick walled pipe.
Lowes hardware does not carry this size, at least not around here.

Here is a link to a EMT size chart and it is in PDF. http://www.falsonsupply.com/Catalog/123FS.pdf

 

[turbosat]

I wonder if that 3" emt would work on my older polar mounts...if so that would save a @#$load of money when replanting a dish.
About the best place I've found the regular size thick-walled pipe was a junkyard, there's one not far away that buys everything, and they always seem to have some of that size-but it IS expensive. Not $10 a foot, but still pricey. Is a great idea to fill up a thinwall pipe with concrete too.

 

[Lone Gunman]

Don't know if I'd trust EMT for that as it's pretty thin stuff. IMHO that pipe needs to be schedule 40 at a minimum.

 

[johann12]

The 3 inch EMT was used for my first 20 year old 7 1/2 foot K Tronic dish and the polar mount fitted perfect.
Then last week I used the same pole for a 15 year old 10 foot channel master dish and that channel master polar mount fitted perfect also on it.

Years back my wife's parents wanted me a to set up a OTA antenna, but they did not wanted it attached to their house.
I dug a hole and set a 10 foot EMT section 4 inches into the dirt below the hole so if water gets into pipe it could drain out and would not freeze and bust the EMT pipe.
I then concrete the pipe in place and while the concrete was drying I turned the pipe. After the concrete was hard I removed the 10 foot pipe so I could add the rotor and another 10 foot section of pipe and then the antenna. I then set the whole assembly into the formed concrete. This way I could remove the antenna and lay it down if there was some repairs to be done at a later time. At the concrete pad and pipe I mounted a L-bracket so it could not turn.
10 years later they wanted it removed,so I pulled it out and to my surprise there was not a single speck of rust on the pipe.
The same EMT pipes, rotor and antenna is mounted on top of my house right now, which gives me a height of 35 feet For my OTA. It is about 15 years old right now and so far there is no rust.

When I planted the 3 inch pole for my dish, I squared one side of the pipe with an hammer, so it can not turn in the concrete. Also I drilled 1/2 inch holes in the squared section so the concrete itself has a physical bond between the inside of the pipe to the outside of the pipe. Then I filled the inside of the pipe and the hole with concrete.

 

[johann12]

Since I filled the 3 inch pipe with concrete I do not see any reasons for any failure.
If someone would use an EMT without filling it with concrete then I would not trust it either, especially here in N.C.

 

[Anole]

Outside the box

Where do I find the 3" inner diameter post?
I need quite a length as I would like to have it 5 feet up and ... 3 feet down.

Thanks for any words of wisdom.

The best (cheapest) place to find that pipe is ...
at the base of a free 8' BUD that you go rescue.

If it's 8 or 10 feet up in the air, all you have to do is cut the pole at ground level.
(no digging required)
And you can save the dish for a future upgrade (if it's sound).

Or, find the scraggliest BUD you can, and get that.
Surely, no one would want any money for it! -




iPhone 4

 

[primestar31]

I bought mine from a place that reclaims used pipe for my Sadoun 6 footer. Cost me $58.00 for 10 feet of it. Look for salvage places, well drillers (metal well casing) Places like that using the local Yellow Pages.

 

[Magic Static]

We have a place called "Home Resource Center" that sells reuseable building materials. I bought a 21' schedule 40 pipe for $60

 

[toucan-man]

I like my chrome plated 1/2" wall thickness hydraulic piston stock. Wish the scrapyard I got it from still had some, he had a pile in various OD sizes and it's all gone now. Besides mounting BUDs, I don't know what people do with the stuff.

 

[cermak]

OK, I think I can just use schedule 40 3" pipe. There's a welding shop in town that will probably have that. Thanks for all the tips, folks!

 

[sergei]

OK, I think I can just use schedule 40 3" pipe. There's a welding shop in town that will probably have that. Thanks for all the tips, folks!

I'm also in Iowa and I've got all my pipe from the guy who installed our well and he only charged me a dollar a foot for the well pipe he no longer uses.

 

[Kraven]

In these woods, everything is priced up the wazoo. a 10ft 2" pipe is 25$, yet 2.5" in 89$. The WSI mount required a 2 3/8"(??) pole. I improvised and borrowed a stop sign and pole (10ft, 2.5") from the town but left the sign itself.

Cheers, K

 

[primestar31]

In these woods, everything is priced up the wazoo. a 10ft 2" pipe is 25$, yet 2.5" in 89$. The WSI mount required a 2 3/8"(??) pole. I improvised and borrowed a stop sign and pole (10ft, 2.5") from the town but left the sign itself.

Cheers, K

"Borrowed"? That's a new way of putting it... Good thing you left the sign, I wouldn't want your taxes to go up!

 

[Kraven]

Believe this... Quebec has a "welcome tax" based on the value of the property. When purchasing a new home (condo, cottage, house, farm or just land), you get a nice 10% tax bill signed by the mayor saying "welcome to the neighborhood". I figured for, between 6k-10k, the least I should get is a pole. Besides, the stop sign was mostly ignored so no big loss to the community.

Cheers, K

 

[primestar31]

Believe this... Quebec has a "welcome tax" based on the value of the property. When purchasing a new home (condo, cottage, house, farm or just land), you get a nice 10% tax bill signed by the mayor saying "welcome to the neighborhood". I figured for, between 6k-10k, the least I should get is a pole. Besides, the stop sign was mostly ignored so no big loss to the community.

Cheers, K

Around here they tell you they are going to "install city water" and hand you a $12,000.00 bill to run it across MY property whether you hook up to it or not. In fact if you DO hook up to it, it's an additional $7 - $9,000.00, plus a quarterly bill for how much you use for water that tastes like chemicals. They claim your property value will go UP. Well, mine went DOWN over $10,000 worth, but the tax bill went UP $500 a year for 40 years!

 

[harshness]

Since I filled the 3 inch pipe with concrete I do not see any reasons for any failure.

The reason for failure would be that the EMT would peel off like a sausage casing. EMT in the 2-1/2" to 3" range has an nominal wall thickness of 0.072" (just over 1/16"). This works out to being somewhat thinner than schedule 5 pipe. 3-1/2 to 4" EMT has a nominal wall thickness of 0.083" (still less than schedule 5). For reference the nominal wall thickness for 3" schedule 40 (standard) pipe is 0.216"; triple that of EMT.

Standard pipe sizes that come out in nice even numbers (+/-0.020) are:

3" pipe is 3.5" Outer Diameter (OD)
3.5" pipe is 4" OD
4" pipe is 4.5" OD
4.5" pipe is 5" OD

Pipe schedule (wall thickness) doesn't impact the OD.

 

[gpflepsen]

A guy could always keep an eye open at the local Gentleman's club for any discarded stripper poles. Has anyone mic'ed one of those? From some of the big girls I've seen they have to be plenty strong...

 

[toucan-man]

...Has anyone mic'ed one of those? From some of the big girls I've seen they have to be plenty strong...

I tried that but the bouncer threw me out on my ear. Something about not touching the merchandise...

 

[Kraven]

A few years back I was walking in downtown Montreal in between classes when I passed in front of a popular strip club. The bouncer yelled in my direction... "lap dances for 10$.. they tease, you squeeze"... I never forgot that one.

Cheers, K