Adapting IRTE Stand for use with 2.4m Dish

[Channel Hopper]

Forum member "Channel Hopper" mentioned in a forum topic that he had mounted his CM 2.4m dish recently and then took it down.
Perhaps he has some pictures of it mounted so you can see what type of stand he used or is planning to use when he re-installs it?

Wake up !

The dish here is not polarmount, but EL/AZ. Pictures were posted wayyyyyyyy back, the fabricated kingpost of 6.5" diameter came as part of the bundle.

 

[Channel Hopper]

I would suggest the o/p and others think carefully before paying suppliers for aftermarket kit unless it is standard fitment / dimensions or has a specific guarantee of performance.

There are very good reasons why the CM reflector has a large diameter pole and the OEM polarmount is a rarity.

 

[Manikm909]

I would suggest the o/p and others think carefully before paying suppliers for aftermarket kit unless it is standard fitment / dimensions or has a specific guarantee of performance.

There are very good reasons why the CM reflector has a large diameter pole and the OEM polarmount is a rarity.

i dont think the original CM polarmount which me and @nelson_b use are designed for both models - i think Nelson said its not direct bolt on fit on his 2.4, but it is on my 1.8m

maybe they never did a polarmount for a 2.4 ...?


SSS have one
_Satellite dish actuators motors. 36 volt Superjack actuators. Polar mounts. Inclined orbit motors. DISEqC motors. 36 inch. USALS

and there is one on ebay in warwick ....its been on there a while.....(think its the same)

Motorized Satellite Mount For Raven (Andrews/Channel Master) 1.8m Dish | eBay

<p style="margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;">Motorized Satellite Mount For Raven (Andrews/Channel Master) 1.8m Dish.</p><p style="margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;"><br></p><p style="margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;">DM me if you have any questions</p>

tinyurl.com

 

[moonbase]

Wake up !

The dish here is not polarmount, but EL/AZ. Pictures were posted wayyyyyyyy back, the fabricated kingpost of 6.5" diameter came as part of the bundle.

Wide awake in Surrey 'ere !

I dont think we ever saw any pictures of your 2.4m CM install after you purchased the dish?
Pictures were probably provided of it from the eBay listing or before/after collection but not installed after purchase?

Some of the top UK DX Men have said the IRTE stand is not up to the task of accepting a 2.4m CM dish. I agree with them.
I will give my opinion plain and simple, mounting a motorised 2.4m CM dish on that IRTE stand is risky at the very least.

There are very good reasons why the CM reflector has a large diameter pole and the OEM polarmount is a rarity.

Yes there are, and the large diameter of that pole is wider than the diameter of the pole on an IRTE tripod stand.


@gap30

Have a look at the picture attached below, it is from an overseas site for which I acted as an organisational consultant and provided remote access technical support.
The dish in the foreground is a Prodelin 2.4m dish mounted on a heavy duty steel pole secured to a concrete pad by chemical resin fixed threaded studs.

There will not be huge differences in the wind load and weight between a Prodelin 2.4m dish and a CM 2.4m dish.
For complete peace of mind, my personal recommendation would be to go for something similar with your setup, it also provides your 2.4m CM dish with decent height from the ground.

You know you can sort out the concrete pad so all you really need to emulate the setup in the picture is a pole.
If you can source a suitable diameter pole or if you have one already it should be easy enough to get a fabricator to weld a square or circular steel plate with some ribbed flanges to the bottom of the pole.
Drill suitable diameter holes in the plate welded to the pole and bolt it down onto the concrete pad.

Job done.

.

 

[gap30]

Wide awake in Surrey 'ere !

I dont think we ever saw any pictures of your 2.4m CM install after you purchased the dish?
Pictures were probably provided of it from the eBay listing or before/after collection but not installed after purchase?

Some of the top UK DX Men have said the IRTE stand is not up to the task of accepting a 2.4m CM dish. I agree with them.
I will give my opinion plain and simple, mounting a motorised 2.4m CM dish on that IRTE stand is risky at the very least.




Yes there are, and the large diameter of that pole is wider than the diameter of the pole on an IRTE tripod stand.


@gap30

Have a look at the picture attached below, it is from an overseas site for which I acted as an organisational consultant and provided remote access technical support.
The dish in the foreground is a Prodelin 2.4m dish mounted on a heavy duty steel pole secured to a concrete pad by chemical resin fixed threaded studs.

There will not be huge differences in the wind load and weight between a Prodelin 2.4m dish and a CM 2.4m dish.
For complete peace of mind, my personal recommendation would be to go for something similar with your setup, it also provides your 2.4m CM dish with decent height from the ground.

You know you can sort out the concrete pad so all you really need to emulate the setup in the picture is a pole.
If you can source a suitable diameter pole or if you have one already it should be easy enough to get a fabricator to weld a square or circular steel plate with some ribbed flanges to the bottom of the pole.
Drill suitable diameter holes in the plate welded to the pole and bolt it down onto the concrete pad.

Job done.

.
View attachment 142654

@moonbase

I only have 3 and 4 inch poles if I was to even to get my hands on a 6.5 inch pole I would have to get a polar mount made from scratch (which could be done)

That setup is excellent in the pictures...

 

[moonbase]

@moonbase

I only have 3 and 4 inch poles if I was to even to get my hands on a 6.5 inch pole I would have to get a polar mount made from scratch (which could be done)

That setup is excellent in the pictures...

Thanks, it took some planning and organising but came good in the end.

Why not consider an H-H mount rather than a polar mount. If you ask around there might be the chance of an AJAK H-180 motor.
I think there might be one or two still floating around but they would not be bargain basement prices.
You might still have the issue with the pole diameter and the mount cap though?

 

[Channel Hopper]

Wide awake in Surrey 'ere !

I dont think we ever saw any pictures of your 2.4m CM install after you purchased the dish?
Pictures were probably provided of it from the eBay listing or before/after collection but not installed after purchase?

Some of the top UK DX Men have said the IRTE stand is not up to the task of accepting a 2.4m CM dish. I agree with them.
I will give my opinion plain and simple, mounting a motorised 2.4m CM dish on that IRTE stand is risky at the very least.


Yes there are, and the large diameter of that pole is wider than the diameter of the pole on an IRTE tripod stand.

Remind me again what diameter pole the SS polarmount uses for the Channel Master reflector ?

I have not recommended the IRTE pole diameter, the opening question from the O/P related to what they could source and how to cobble together. I have given my opinion of what one could do with the resources before engaging with specialist tools and somebody proficient in metalwork.

If I had taken a picture of the CM assembled it would show the reflector, EL/AZ sitting atop the king post with minimal bolts. I did not install the front end , just take measurements of the lower support arm to figure out how best to build a suitable boom arm, which I plan to make out of aluminium, ala the Prodelin 1388 to keep weight down. The spare subreflector and turret are going to be the major weight components, moreso if I include the C-Band feed here.

But I will probably keep it back for the 3.8m panels.

 

[gap30]

Seriously considering starting again on this project - from reading multiple 2.4 comments no one is using 6.5 poles

4/4.5 inch pole seems to do the job with the SS mount being used by several members

I could get a king post made up with a 4.5 inch 'head'?

In theory I can get the fabricator to replicate the SS mount

Maniks setup isn't overkill (excellent job btw) for his 1.8m I just to go 'big or go home'

 

[7mdish]

Remind me again what diameter pole the SS polarmount uses for the Channel Master reflector ?

4 inches. I have one here, waiting for the dish.
It is a very strong polarmount with elevation movement too.
As soon as my installation will be completed I will update another thread in which I just spoke about my coming setup.

 

[moonbase]

...I have not recommended the IRTE pole diameter...

Oh, I thought that when you said the IRTE stand would be fine in reply 3 of this thread you were including the pole? I had not realised you were excluding the pole from that.

...The stand will be fine....

Moving on, let us all hope that the O/P can work out a clear path to move forward and get his dish installed and operational.
I hope to see his "Channel Master 2.4m Motorised Install" topic appear on the forum over the next few weeks or months.

 

[moonbase]

Seriously considering starting again on this project - from reading multiple 2.4 comments no one is using 6.5 poles
4/4.5 inch pole seems to do the job with the SS mount being used by several members
I could get a king post made up with a 4.5 inch 'head'?
In theory I can get the fabricator to replicate the SS mount
Maniks setup isn't overkill (excellent job btw) for his 1.8m I just to go 'big or go home'

@gap30

Agreed, "Manik" has done a very nice job with his 1.8m install.

As you have a plan to surround the surface raised concrete pad with some type of screening there would seem to be no reason not to go ahead with the concrete pad.
Once you have the pad built you can decide what type of pole/stand you are going to use.

Depending on the depth and area of the concrete pad you might wish to consider using a reinforcing metal frame in the ground that the concrete is poured into.
For a smallish pad that does not have much surface area and depth I would say this is not required and might be a "nice to have" luxury.
If you do use a metal frame and you use chemical resin fixed studs to secure the stand/pole, make sure the metal frame will not foul drilling points on the pad for the studs..

I have attached a few pictures below that show some of the stages when the concrete pad was made for the Prodelin 2.4m dish install I illustrated earlier.

.

 

[gap30]

Have just had a conversation with my fabricator I have a 2m heavy duty 4.5 inch pole (6mm wall) he is adamant that this will do the job

He would weld a heavy duty plate to the bottom and ribs, also adamant once the irte polar mount is adapted we will test fit the dish and add diagonal arms to the rear of the pole near the polar mount and additional supports lower down

I am still skeptical but he is convinced it will work

I have mentioned the weight of the dish 180kg and wind load

 

[Satfaca]

Here is Prodelin's standard pipe spec for their 2.4m dish.

 

[moonbase]

Have just had a conversation with my fabricator I have a 2m heavy duty 4.5 inch pole (6mm wall) he is adamant that this will do the job
He would weld a heavy duty plate to the bottom and ribs, also adamant once the irte polar mount is adapted we will test fit the dish and add diagonal arms to the rear of the pole near the polar mount and additional supports lower down
I am still skeptical but he is convinced it will work
I have mentioned the weight of the dish 180kg and wind load

Sounds like a plan.

The pole has a reasonable wall thickness and with a well ribbed base plate welded on to the bottom of the pole is worth trying.
If you are going to use chemical resin fixed studs make sure they are "meaty" enough for anchorage.

Get digging, I hope your ground is not stony and is devoid of tree/bush roots.

 

[gap30]

Sounds like a plan.
The pole has a reasonable wall thickness and with a well ribbed base plate welded on to the bottom of the pole is worth trying.

Finally some good news

 

[Channel Hopper]

4 inches. I have one here, waiting for the dish.
It is a very strong polarmount with elevation movement too.
As soon as my installation will be completed I will update another thread in which I just spoke about my coming setup.

In which case the SS one is just as 'Meccano' as the design Gap30 has the option of acquiring, yet IRTE never promoted similar for systems above 2.2m for obvious reasons.

There is a reason why the posts are approximately 50% larger in diameter on commercial grade systems, to retain the dish even though it would lose tracking once the operational limits are exceeded (50MPH in most cases).

The site looks from the imagery that it should not be buffeted by winds in excess of 125MPH, (survival velocity figure from memory), but if the smaller post is used then expect damage in anything more much more than 80MPH with the smaller post in place.

 

[Channel Hopper]

Have just had a conversation with my fabricator I have a 2m heavy duty 4.5 inch pole (6mm wall) he is adamant that this will do the job

He would weld a heavy duty plate to the bottom and ribs, also adamant once the irte polar mount is adapted we will test fit the dish and add diagonal arms to the rear of the pole near the polar mount and additional supports lower down

I am still skeptical but he is convinced it will work

I have mentioned the weight of the dish 180kg and wind load

Yes, that will prevent the dish mass from shifting the tripod, plus you should be able to make fine adjustments to the 'plumbness' of the pole by building tolerance into the rear sections.

I'll try to find a suitable bearing set for the Ferguson mount this weekend, but you can check if the one you have is substandard by loosening the main bolt and shoving feeler gauges in the opened gap between fixed and swivel metalwork. If it is more than 0.5mm then you might benefit from them, your machinist should know what to do in this case.

 

[Channel Hopper]

If you have found the tolerance is outside reasonable limits then a set of tapered bearings like this will do, though the top and bottom of the polarmount case woule require machining to accept the cups (and the rotating part machined for the races). The pivot bolt on the earlier mounts was 14mm from memory so you will need to space out or find a larger one to suit.

44mm TAPER HEADSTOCK BEARINGS SET FOR PIT BIKE 23mm. SDG FRAMES | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 44mm TAPER HEADSTOCK BEARINGS SET FOR PIT BIKE 23mm. SDG FRAMES at the best online prices at eBay! Free delivery for many products.

www.ebay.co.uk

To save effort and a lot of time, there is this on Ebay (in the other thread)

1.2 Metre Tracking Satellite Dish | eBay

Very solid base.

www.ebay.co.uk

finishing soon. all parts are interchangeable with yours. Don't believe the naysayer about the bearings, they will be fine unless tampered with or the corrosion has got to them.