Hi, awesome project, You will learn a lot from just attempting to do things! When it comes to removing rust on a structure like this, your best bet is a butane torch (the kind they sell for plumbing) and heat up the "nut" portion of the frame (not the thread). Remember, heat expands the metal so you want to expand the nut. Spray a penetrant (WD is OK) while heating. It will smoke but that's fine. You will free it up eventually. Don't worry, you can't harm the steel with a propane torch. Next, buy some silicone grease and lube that rod and nuts (heheh). Remember, WD-40 is not a lubricant! For moving the shaft, you'll need one of the beefier stepper motors and even more importantly, a gear box. You will need a gearbox because of the high torque required to move it.once you find a gearbox (you can find a used one and just repurpose it), mounting it will be fairly straight forward given that this is a steel structure and you can drill & bolt or weld to it. You;ll need some cheap/used/free angle iron to do it. Good luck, keep making vids and ask questions.
To start off with, get a nice wire brush wheel, put it on a drill motor and clean all of the rust off of the exposed threads. If after cleaning the exposed threads, it still won't move, apply a little heat and oil to the jammed parts until it does move. Then, once your get things moving, clean off the parts that were covered. Then cover everything that moves (especially the threaded parts) with lithium grease.
I was going to mention heating the threaded blocks in order to get them freed up, using a hand-held blowtorch or similar. Having worked with old farming machinery and implements for decades, many of which have spent long spells out in the weather with no maintenance or use, having threads that are jammed up was a common occurrence. Soak with penetrating oil, heat with a torch, then tap (gently) with a hammer while trying to move the mechanism.
Let's go!! I passed my struggle with acquiring H-Line with DIY radio last year lol. Currently building an Alt-Az mount for the dish (the dish was cheap C Band dish that now already has a lot of holes due to how thin the mesh is, lol), previously used an optical equatorial mount for "temporary data retrieval" for the dish. I used Nooelec Sawbird+ H1 amp/filter and a cantenna for the feedhorn (that simplifies things!). For software, I use SDRSharp with IF Average plugin, it's outdated but again simplifies things when you are trying to acquire your signal for the first time. SDRAngel is much more capable software but I found it not user-friendly and hard to use. Wish you luck with this project!
Go looking for home made actuators using hand drill doing the same my end but i was lucky and got 2 free gate openers which i am using one of the az and seems to work well .
This is so cool, for old seized bolts I use stuff called "liquid wrench" its much better than wd-40. As for motors you can find dc motors sold with a gearbox attached for fairly cheap and they come in many different sizes.
For unstuck the threaded bar, you can try heating both fixation it with blowtorch, it will expand the metal and also add WD40, of course try to clean the threaded bar with power tool and wire brush. Add some grease after all that.
If you use heat, heat the nut, not the threaded rod. It will require many calories to be absorbed. Patience with moderate heat is better than trying to use high heat. The heat needs to 'soak'. Not just heat the surface. Use the 'liquid wrench' to get things moving, then grease it well to both prevent future corrosion, and lubricate. A plumber, mechanic, or blacksmith should be able to help with the heat if you are not proficient with a torch. Once it's been cycled several times and lubricated, you should find both assemblies to be consistent in the torque requirements. Edit: Just noticed, the assembly has two nuts. Plan on more patience and lots of penetrating oil.... Heating both at the same time may be problematic.
If you want a non destructive way af adding leverage on initially freeing the shaft, you could try a jar lid opener. The lid opener comes with a belt that you strap around the handwheel and a long handle. When you pull on the handle it tightens the belt gripping the wheel and this gives you quite bit of leverage. This just in addition to the oils, wire brushes and heat thats been mentioned.
HI last year i got a second hand C band dish and it had been sitting in the one position for over 20 years so the elevation adjustment was as yours stuck with rust . Getting mine to move was a bit easier i used as others have mentioned a wire brush first to clean the rust from the thread and wd 40 as you but i used also grease ,i have 2 large nuts either side of the elevation adjustment so large shifting spanners and a hammer wacking those at first does work till the nuts start moving . I can't tell from your video as you were moving around a bit when focusing on the problem area if that large round adjustment has a place at the end to put a spanner you can do what i did if not i would remove the whole adjustment and put that large round hand adjuster in a vise and again do the same me and every one else and work on the thread and make it move via the other end once working put it all back . If you are planning motor control there are lots of videos on how to make a Actuator from a long threaded bolt and a hand drill ! I was given 2 old dc geared gate openers and have used one so far moviing my 2.5 m C band dish polar mount azimuth control , BTW great video very interesting love watching your work with satellites and the dishes ,the reason i have one now my self is due to you !
Fantastic project. You are in for the long haul so keep the gatorade flowing. Gearboxes and or stepper motors will be a good way to go once you knock the rust off and get a good sense of the Range of Motion. What is the internet connection like at the location? It would be cool to get it online for public observing and your private remote controlling. Keep up the great work!!!
Love it! As others have said, WD40 is not a lubricant. Using a 50/50 mix of automatic transmission fluid and acetone is one of the best penetrating oils you can find. Adding heat with a torch or inductive heater is a great way to break stuff loose as well. I'm interested to see if you run coax or use a wave guide and how you plan to phase each dish. Which mixer/differential amp setup do you plan on using to filter out the noise?
PS i see the threaded bolt is connected via 2 large square nuts that are connected to the dish mount disconnecting one from the mount you can now get a shifting spanner or stillson Pipe Wrench on it and try and move it up and down the thread ...it will be a bit of work but very possible ! again a hammer or mallet hammer would come in handy if that wrench still won't move it ! Gease keeps better lubricated longer than wd 40 . Again on the motor side i think a hand drill with its gearing would move that dish a stepper motor is a good idea but you need still gearing and how to connect it and all that a hand drill the only problem is the the bolt might be to big to fit in it , you could grind the the end section of the threaded bolt down till it fits in your drill ! Just then need a bracket to the mount so when the drill is working the drill case does not spin,pretty much like the home made actuators i have seen using a hand drill !...Yes you are right from my gate opener on my dish as a positioner it is harder to move the dish more force wise needed either end on the maximum low positions to back up moving position ...The gears in the Drill should still be able to handle what i see if you can move it by hand the drill sure will too . If all this works you can build a power supply for the drill and put timing in to start and stop it lots of ways to do this depending on your timing wants to move the dish . A drill is a very cheap solution as they can be found second had due to the battery or its charger is broken and of cause bigger the better ! ( stronger) i would go looking recyle places or on line should cost you either nothing or 10 bucks good luck watching with interest .
Search for linear actuator blueprints. You'll find out that you already have it there, "just" motor is missing. Once you free up jammed mechanism by good advices you got here, try to find out what torque is needed to turn the shaft. Old car wipers motors are pretty strong. If high precision is needed than you must go with stepper motors.
I would recommend checking out a trailer (caravan?) hitch lift. It could be attached with a pivot point to the stationary mount point. This would replace the threaded rod and allow control from a more comfortable location. I see various ones on our walmart store web pages for about $37 - $50 that are good for lifting 450 Kg to 1100 Kg. I realize you probably do not have walmart store, but maybe you can find something similar. Maybe you could find something similar on an old satellite TV mount, they were electric. I had one on my C band and Ku TV dish here in US.
I personal would take them apart instead of messing with the old stuff, I am sure the dish is light enough on its own and then use a nema 23 stepper motor or 2 on a simple base.
To make it turn by hand you will need a lot of WD40 and time, if you don't have one try to borrow a Stillson style pipe wrench and grab the rod by the small unthreaded zone, with that type of wrench the more you pull the handle the more its teeth tighten against whatever you are trying to turn...
Pleas dont Put any weight on the dish. You could bend it out of shape. Just clan the threads and soak them with some light oil like WD-40. After you freed them up I would grease them an use something to protect the threads from the elements. Maybe a fork boot cover from a motorcycle could work. For the motors I would try some nema 23 steppers (or bigger?) with a angle gearbox.
I worded that weirdly, I was thinking about putting weight at the back of the mount to balance the weight of the dish, obviously no structural load onto the dish itself
WD40 is a half-measure, machine oil (or even engine oil) is much more permanent. Applied just after WD-40 makes things move, or even with WD-40, so it carries the oil into nooks and crannies. Heating the threads might help, but excessive heat also weakens the metal, and WD-40 main ingredient is kerosene. Hope it's not a lost cause, but if it rusted through too much it just might be…
It's a cool project, but I think you'll get bogged down in mechanics. Why not focus on the electronics and the capture side of things and just move the elevation by hand every day? Seeing it actually work will give you motivation to then work on the mechanics, or maybe someone will sponsor a proper linear actuator for you. I think it's a much better way than starting with the least rewarding and toughest part. Good either way 😊
Hi, awesome project, You will learn a lot from just attempting to do things! When it comes to removing rust on a structure like this, your best bet is a butane torch (the kind they sell for plumbing) and heat up the "nut" portion of the frame (not the thread). Remember, heat expands the metal so you want to expand the nut. Spray a penetrant (WD is OK) while heating. It will smoke but that's fine. You will free it up eventually. Don't worry, you can't harm the steel with a propane torch. Next, buy some silicone grease and lube that rod and nuts (heheh). Remember, WD-40 is not a lubricant! For moving the shaft, you'll need one of the beefier stepper motors and even more importantly, a gear box. You will need a gearbox because of the high torque required to move it.once you find a gearbox (you can find a used one and just repurpose it), mounting it will be fairly straight forward given that this is a steel structure and you can drill & bolt or weld to it. You;ll need some cheap/used/free angle iron to do it. Good luck, keep making vids and ask questions.
A wire brush to clean out the threads is quite effective along with the WD-40
To start off with, get a nice wire brush wheel, put it on a drill motor and clean all of the rust off of the exposed threads. If after cleaning the exposed threads, it still won't move, apply a little heat and oil to the jammed parts until it does move. Then, once your get things moving, clean off the parts that were covered. Then cover everything that moves (especially the threaded parts) with lithium grease.
I was going to mention heating the threaded blocks in order to get them freed up, using a hand-held blowtorch or similar. Having worked with old farming machinery and implements for decades, many of which have spent long spells out in the weather with no maintenance or use, having threads that are jammed up was a common occurrence. Soak with penetrating oil, heat with a torch, then tap (gently) with a hammer while trying to move the mechanism.
Let's go!! I passed my struggle with acquiring H-Line with DIY radio last year lol. Currently building an Alt-Az mount for the dish (the dish was cheap C Band dish that now already has a lot of holes due to how thin the mesh is, lol), previously used an optical equatorial mount for "temporary data retrieval" for the dish. I used Nooelec Sawbird+ H1 amp/filter and a cantenna for the feedhorn (that simplifies things!). For software, I use SDRSharp with IF Average plugin, it's outdated but again simplifies things when you are trying to acquire your signal for the first time. SDRAngel is much more capable software but I found it not user-friendly and hard to use. Wish you luck with this project!
Go looking for home made actuators using hand drill doing the same my end but i was lucky and got 2 free gate openers which i am using one of the az and seems to work well .
This is so cool, for old seized bolts I use stuff called "liquid wrench" its much better than wd-40. As for motors you can find dc motors sold with a gearbox attached for fairly cheap and they come in many different sizes.
Thanking you most kindly from England
Hi, very interesting - I'm looking forward to seeing how this project goes!
Ambitious! A great community ready to help! Keep us updated
For unstuck the threaded bar, you can try heating both fixation it with blowtorch, it will expand the metal and also add WD40, of course try to clean the threaded bar with power tool and wire brush.
Add some grease after all that.
this is pretty exciting, cant wait to see what you do with them
If you use heat, heat the nut, not the threaded rod. It will require many calories to be absorbed. Patience with moderate heat is better than trying to use high heat. The heat needs to 'soak'. Not just heat the surface. Use the 'liquid wrench' to get things moving, then grease it well to both prevent future corrosion, and lubricate. A plumber, mechanic, or blacksmith should be able to help with the heat if you are not proficient with a torch. Once it's been cycled several times and lubricated, you should find both assemblies to be consistent in the torque requirements. Edit: Just noticed, the assembly has two nuts. Plan on more patience and lots of penetrating oil.... Heating both at the same time may be problematic.
Great advice!
If you want a non destructive way af adding leverage on initially freeing the shaft, you could try a jar lid opener. The lid opener comes with a belt that you strap around the handwheel and a long handle. When you pull on the handle it tightens the belt gripping the wheel and this gives you quite bit of leverage. This just in addition to the oils, wire brushes and heat thats been mentioned.
Oh its really called a "strap wrench"
HI last year i got a second hand C band dish and it had been sitting in the one position for over 20 years so the elevation adjustment was as yours stuck with rust . Getting mine to move was a bit easier i used as others have mentioned a wire brush first to clean the rust from the thread and wd 40 as you but i used also grease ,i have 2 large nuts either side of the elevation adjustment so large shifting spanners and a hammer wacking those at first does work till the nuts start moving . I can't tell from your video as you were moving around a bit when focusing on the problem area if that large round adjustment has a place at the end to put a spanner you can do what i did if not i would remove the whole adjustment and put that large round hand adjuster in a vise and again do the same me and every one else and work on the thread and make it move via the other end once working put it all back . If you are planning motor control there are lots of videos on how to make a Actuator from a long threaded bolt and a hand drill ! I was given 2 old dc geared gate openers and have used one so far moviing my 2.5 m C band dish polar mount azimuth control , BTW great video very interesting love watching your work with satellites and the dishes ,the reason i have one now my self is due to you !
interested please show us back side mechanism of this Prime focus Satellite Disg,
Fantastic project. You are in for the long haul so keep the gatorade flowing.
Gearboxes and or stepper motors will be a good way to go once you knock the rust off and get a good sense of the Range of Motion.
What is the internet connection like at the location? It would be cool to get it online for public observing and your private remote controlling.
Keep up the great work!!!
Love it! As others have said, WD40 is not a lubricant. Using a 50/50 mix of automatic transmission fluid and acetone is one of the best penetrating oils you can find. Adding heat with a torch or inductive heater is a great way to break stuff loose as well. I'm interested to see if you run coax or use a wave guide and how you plan to phase each dish. Which mixer/differential amp setup do you plan on using to filter out the noise?
PS i see the threaded bolt is connected via 2 large square nuts that are connected to the dish mount disconnecting one from the mount you can now get a shifting spanner or stillson Pipe Wrench on it and try and move it up and down the thread ...it will be a bit of work but very possible ! again a hammer or mallet hammer would come in handy if that wrench still won't move it ! Gease keeps better lubricated longer than wd 40 . Again on the motor side i think a hand drill with its gearing would move that dish a stepper motor is a good idea but you need still gearing and how to connect it and all that a hand drill the only problem is the the bolt might be to big to fit in it , you could grind the the end section of the threaded bolt down till it fits in your drill ! Just then need a bracket to the mount so when the drill is working the drill case does not spin,pretty much like the home made actuators i have seen using a hand drill !...Yes you are right from my gate opener on my dish as a positioner it is harder to move the dish more force wise needed either end on the maximum low positions to back up moving position ...The gears in the Drill should still be able to handle what i see if you can move it by hand the drill sure will too . If all this works you can build a power supply for the drill and put timing in to start and stop it lots of ways to do this depending on your timing wants to move the dish . A drill is a very cheap solution as they can be found second had due to the battery or its charger is broken and of cause bigger the better ! ( stronger) i would go looking recyle places or on line should cost you either nothing or 10 bucks good luck watching with interest .
Carry on. This is amazing
Search for linear actuator blueprints. You'll find out that you already have it there, "just" motor is missing. Once you free up jammed mechanism by good advices you got here, try to find out what torque is needed to turn the shaft. Old car wipers motors are pretty strong. If high precision is needed than you must go with stepper motors.
Very interested
Very interesting
This is amazing! How did you manage to get access into that place?
I would recommend checking out a trailer (caravan?) hitch lift. It could be attached with a pivot point to the stationary mount point. This would replace the threaded rod and allow control from a more comfortable location. I see various ones on our walmart store web pages for about $37 - $50 that are good for lifting 450 Kg to 1100 Kg. I realize you probably do not have walmart store, but maybe you can find something similar. Maybe you could find something similar on an old satellite TV mount, they were electric. I had one on my C band and Ku TV dish here in US.
I personal would take them apart instead of messing with the old stuff, I am sure the dish is light enough on its own and then use a nema 23 stepper motor or 2 on a simple base.
To make it turn by hand you will need a lot of WD40 and time, if you don't have one try to borrow a Stillson style pipe wrench and grab the rod by the small unthreaded zone, with that type of wrench the more you pull the handle the more its teeth tighten against whatever you are trying to turn...
Pleas dont Put any weight on the dish. You could bend it out of shape. Just clan the threads and soak them with some light oil like WD-40. After you freed them up I would grease them an use something to protect the threads from the elements. Maybe a fork boot cover from a motorcycle could work. For the motors I would try some nema 23 steppers (or bigger?) with a angle gearbox.
I worded that weirdly, I was thinking about putting weight at the back of the mount to balance the weight of the dish, obviously no structural load onto the dish itself
You should buy penetrating oil, you can buy in diy stores like OBI. Works much better with stucked threads than WD40.
ooo, keep us posted, please
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I want to visit you
What happened to your own 2 mtr something dish ?
Nothing, I have that at home
Cool! Looking forward to more vids on this for sure.
Heat, WD40, heat, WD40, heat & repeat and it'll go.
WD40 is a half-measure, machine oil (or even engine oil) is much more permanent. Applied just after WD-40 makes things move, or even with WD-40, so it carries the oil into nooks and crannies. Heating the threads might help, but excessive heat also weakens the metal, and WD-40 main ingredient is kerosene. Hope it's not a lost cause, but if it rusted through too much it just might be…
"Excessive" would be making it more than dull cherry-red.
Use break cleaner!!
Why do you need a motor? Can't you just put them into position by hand and let the rotation of the earth move them across the sky?
Yes.
It's a cool project, but I think you'll get bogged down in mechanics. Why not focus on the electronics and the capture side of things and just move the elevation by hand every day? Seeing it actually work will give you motivation to then work on the mechanics, or maybe someone will sponsor a proper linear actuator for you. I think it's a much better way than starting with the least rewarding and toughest part. Good either way 😊
B
Tak jo!
following
... тебе прислали SDR, который ты хотел?
4:35 ~~reunification? more like annexatio~~ --I mean yeah, no way, Germany is finally united n stuff...
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