1.2m Echostar Fibreglass dish

WD40 is not penetrating fluid (unless you are using the one marked 'specialist'), you need something that frees off the corroded metal from the fibres.
 
I also tried GT85 for good measure but no nothing worked.

I will try using a heat gun to see if that helps. Heat them up and try banging them out. One for next weekend now though !

The other issue is I cannot get the LNB arms undone. You've got aluminium threads on the arms held in place by steel bolts that have welded themselves together over the years. I tried one and it sheared off. Luckily the arm is still attached firmly though. I'm not going to mess with them anymore.
 
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I think a lower torque impact gun should be ok, just don't go full send, start off with a low setting as it should only need a little shock to free them off, give it a try and see how it goes, just make sure there is plenty of GT85 on the threads first.
 
cokeaddict said:
I think a lower torque impact gun should be ok, just don't go full send, start off with a low setting as it should only need a little shock to free them off, give it a try and see how it goes, just make sure there is plenty of GT85 on the threads first.
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That's where I had got to. Too much force then it will crack the dish !
 
ekko star said:
That's where I had got to. Too much force then it will crack the dish !
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I doubt it, you will be spinning a rusty bolt in the hole (ooooerrr !)

You could try both directions for keeping the cavity tight.
 
Channel Hopper said:
I doubt it, you will be spinning a rusty bolt in the hole (ooooerrr !)

You could try both directions for keeping the cavity tight.
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Yes that sounds logical !

I am a little bit worried that someone may have put some bonding or glue in them to keep them in place on the original install.

Even though they are rusty this amount of force should not be necessary as it is not a threaded hole !

Worst comes to worst they are still functional and I can just paint over them. I would rather remove though, paint the dish and install stainless steel bolts to finish it off nicely.

Also are the LNB arms of these cross compatible with CM's and vice versa?. The LNB holder is 30mm and I will never be able to get that off without breaking the arms.

I'm still not sure I am actually going to use the set up in the end but the thing is probably so rare nowadays it is worth it. I think the weight of the reflector could defo work with a metal gear diseqc. It feels much lighter than a CM (from memory)
 
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I think the way how his (home made ? ) polarmount is attached to this dish is not original . I’ve seen several 1.2 Echostar dishes and at all of them were just 4 bolts turned in from behind , no through holes
 
RimaNTSS said:
Do you mean those bolts (red arrows)?
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Those nuts at the back come off.

It's the actually coach bolt that sits through the dish. They were not budging

But I have finally had some luck, I used a socket wrench and extended it with a pipe to gain leverage on the dish face side. Now the coach bolts have started to loosen !!!

They are not out but I will get an impact wrench on them low torque and should be able to get them out from here !
 
Trust said:
I think the way how his (home made ? ) polarmount is attached to this dish is not original . I’ve seen several 1.2 Echostar dishes and at all of them were just 4 bolts turned in from behind , no through holes
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It's not home made at all.

100% original.

There are 2 bolts in each corner that correspond to each corner of the dish face.
 
Ok pictures speak more than a 1000 words

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Original Polar mount for Original dish face

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Original Prodelin with original Polar mount. There are 8 through face coach bolts into pre-moulded holes.

It's all original ! All is solid and seems to swing nicely with no play. Haven't tested the actuator but that should work.

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I used copious amounts of GT85, leveraged the wrench and tapped with a hammer from behind.

It's got all of them coach bolts spinning now !

I will drench them with GT85 even more and leave them for a bit so that they slide out more readily.

It's a cold day today so the rest for the weekend !

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So I was thinking of a metal gear diseqc.

It should be easy enough to fabricate a support on the rear of the dish and I found a pic below that sort of looks like what I had in mind. The fixing on the dish side will need a mount like that below that allows the offset adjustment.

I'm not sure of the offset for this dish but should be 22 or 22.5deg?

View attachment 161571
 
Actually this look far better.

I found some pics below on the net that sort of looks more like what I had in mind. It should be easy enough to fabricate a support on the rear of the dish based on this

The supporting bars across the back of my dish would naturally be wider but all else the same

The offset and declination adjustment is a great design. Keep it nice and simple.

I'm pretty sure the metal gear motor would handle this dish. Not sure of the weight at the moment but I will weigh it at some point.

It defo feels a lot lighter and manageable than a 1.2 CM. It doesn't have all the additional moulding the CN has due to the narrower central polar mount.

The wider holes placing on the Prodelin across the width means even though a lighter dish it should stand up to lateral wind forces better a CM.

Well, that's the theory !

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ekko star said:
It's got Prodelin stamped on the back.

No idea what they worth nowadays but I had never seen one in the flesh with a polar mount in all these years !

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If you vary the contrast, you will see the dish part number under the Echostar sticker. Very rare.
 
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