Wanted ku band elbow for a chaparral corotor .

[jeallen01]

"Left side" suggestion (again)!

As long as there is a "half" of a ring slot in one flange, run a small bead of NON-ACIDIC silicone sealant (it does exist!) around that so that it stands as "proud as possible" of the flange, and then let it cure - hopefully that will then seal the joint when the elbow is bolted up to it tightly (and then, maybe, run some more of the same sealant around the outside of the bolted-up joint to reduce the possibility of moisture entering the joint from that direction).

I used another variation of this approach when I had to seal the lid to the main part of the plastic box that houses the Smart Priority Switches (SPS) which allow me to select the dishes/LNBs down the garden from either the lounge or our "office" upstairs - the box came with a "rubber" sealing "ring" which proved impossible to keep in-place when the lid was fitted, and so I hit on this "alternative solution", and that has prevented any noticeable moisture entering the box for at least 3-4 years!

 

[subman]

Thanks for the Feed back Jeallen01 Well the O ring and screw kit has not yet arrived from SMW but I will look at all the options as the last thing I want is water getting into the waveguide .But like you say just add a very small amount of Non-Acidic silicone sealant same stuff I use on my andrew plugs when I cant use self amalgamating tape . As far as making a hood to go over the LNB thats one more thing to think about held in place by tie wraps .
Or
If companys were not in lock down just get a small local engineering comany to cut a small round groove in thev elbow and slip a O ring in that way .
Or
Try and remove the old elbow from the old corotor .
Or
Just bolt the LNB straight onto the corotor since it has a O ring on the LNB side .The problem doing this is you would have to drill out the thread on the corotor flange then install your 4 bolts . 2 of the bolts you have access but the 2 others may need to be cut down a few mm or install 4m studs then add nuts to the exposed studs on the bottom of the corotor flange . Adding a nut should be easier than trying to stab a bolt into the corotor flange + LNB and then doing it up .

But who knows I might find a duff corotor that I can remove the elbow from . Any cant do a thing untill the O ring and screw arrive but finding a replacement elbow was never going to be easy as it needs to be Male one side and the other Female .

 

[Channel Hopper]

I’ve never had a transfer leak once the two surfaces are bolted together and self amalgamating tape is wound around the outside

Or you could use one of those conical cover options that fits over the feed and LNBs which clamps to the feedarms, the impact on reception on a 3m+ dish is going to be negligible

 

[Trust]

Why do you want that Ku lnb sidewards ? does it not fit with a proper elbow backwards ?

 

[Channel Hopper]

Why do you want that Ku lnb sidewards ? does it not fit with a proper elbow backwards ?

A 'proper' elbow ?

The Chaparral corotor uses an E plane design elbow, all OMT designs I have here are H-plane.

 

[Trust]

A 'proper' elbow ?

The Chaparral corotor uses an E plane design elbow, all OMT designs I have here are H-plane.

What I mean with a proper elbow

 

[subman]

The Waveguide is at a different angle so the LNB has to go left or right it cannot sit straight in line as the chaparral corotor elbow does . Look at the attached picture . Plus the holes dont line up at the flange because the wavguide is out of alignment , One is vert + the other Hoz

So its down to bolting the LNB onto this elbow and having it go off at a angle and then sealing off the male elbow flange to the male flange on the corotor .

Or plan C bolt the LNB straight onto the corotor using 4 mm studs into the base of the LNB then add washers and nuts to under the corotor flange .


Or I try to get the old Elbow off the old corotor , If I can get the old elbow off I can use that I have put a request out to all satelite forums for a someone who may have a old duff corotors . Oh yes the O ring that came with the Elbow does fit the SMW LNB . As for making sure the 2 male flanges or water tight I think a thin layer of Non-Acidic silicone sealant then a few wraps of self amalgamating should do the job .

 

[Channel Hopper]

Or I try to get the old Elbow off the old corotor , If I can get the old elbow off I can use that I have put a request out to all satelite forums for a someone who may have a old duff corotors . Oh yes the O ring that came with the Elbow does fit the SMW LNB . As for making sure the 2 male flanges or water tight I think a thin layer of Non-Acidic silicone sealant then a few wraps of self amalgamating should do the job .

I hope you have already got the bolts in soak since they look like they are not going to come out easily, the corotor does not have blind holes from memory so the fluid should get to the importanrt areas.

It may be worth using a molegrip in conjunction with a torx driver, grab the head of the bolts at the same time whilst you undo them.

 

[nelson_b]

Heating the joint and screws (as much as you dare ) with a blowtorch or hot air gun - can work wonders .... and break the bond between the steel screws and the alloy.

 

[subman]

Evening Guys yes its all in soak and I have the blowtorch ready but I have a feeling the bolts will shear off as I can get a spanner and a socket on them I cant heat them up to much without damaging the LNB . If however the bolts do shear off I should be able to remove the LNB then we have the 4 x Torx yes I can try with the molegrip for a bit of extra torque . If I can remove the old elbow it would be more straight forward but nothing on this project is straight forward .

 

[Trust]

I wonder , is there any progress ?

 

[Trust]

Almost 10 pages with questions for the setup of your 4 m dish / Echostar AD-3000IP Viaccess / Chaparral Skew Motor / problems with your Satlook FTA meter and the elbow problem .
And than it stops , are you giving up ?

 

[subman]

Hi Trust so for no update . But in the end I went without a elbow and bolted the ku Lnb straight onto the corotor . I took the other corotor off the dish and I installed the new corotor , I was going to change the arms and the mount but thought it best I just change over the feed only .

Before I stripped the old corotor off I took a load of pictures and measurements . Sat meter I am using is a Satlink WS 7009 .The satellite I am using to reset the set the system back up again is Astra 4 Sirius 4 measurements were Q 86 + Signal 70 -75 .

So I installed the new corotor onto the dish however I think it may need setting up with meter as I am getting zero signal so the plan is today re - adjust the feed neck in the corotor for max signal and do a few tweaks .I can still see the satellite on the scope so it should just be a case of tweaking for max signal because all I have changed is just the corotor . If however it remains the same it could be that I have got a duff LNB but SMW should be ok as you may remember the LNB was bought second hand so like I said it may be that .

Plan B

After getting the old corotor off and started to strip it down and got the old Ku Lnb off one of the screws did shear off but I removed that with mole grips . Wow you should have seen the state of the waveguide as you can see from the pictures corrosion was very bad not to mention the spiders how they got in there I have no idea because the corotor has the cap on the neck . So I have cleaned it up put a new O in , So if I get no joy with the new Lnb I will install the old . This was all installed back in 1991 so its done well .

Once every thing is up and working again I will change out the new stainless steel support arms and repray the jack .

 

[Channel Hopper]

The second image confirms that the o-ring has failed in its job, possibly as a result of the creeping alloy corrosion, the resulting salts in the moisture have crystallised out.

With a bit of care you may find cleaning off the LNB probe with a damp toothbrush restores operation.

 

[subman]

Yes thats what I have just done most of the corrosion has come off and new o ring fitted , Yes looks like the O ring failed a long time ago . I will see how I get on with the new Lnb but other wise I will refit the old one . This is one of the O rings that Rimants gave me .

 

[Channel Hopper]

Yes thats what I have just done most of the corrosion has come off and new o ring fitted , Yes looks like the O ring failed a long time ago . I will see how I get on with the new Lnb but other wise I will refit the old one . This is one of the O rings that Rimants gave me .

Some advice , moving forward.

Wanted ku band elbow for a chaparral corotor .

"Left side" suggestion (again)! As long as there is a "half" of a ring slot in one flange, run a small bead of NON-ACIDIC silicone sealant (it does exist!) around that so that it stands as "proud as possible" of the flange, and then let it cure - hopefully that will then seal the joint when the...

satellites.co.uk

 

[subman]

Thanks Ch for the information But I did buy a replacement Corotor from Satfaca so thats on the dish now as for the old one well I think the only thing I can use on that will be both LNBs and the Elbow .

Good News the new LNB is working . Just want to check with some of you that may know the colour code of the skew motors .

As far as I can remember the motor has 3 wires Red , White + Black
Red is your 5 volt supply
White is Skew
Black is Gnd

Can someone confirm this ?

As for the Corotor end on the dish I have not adjusted that end yet but what I can tell you is the signal is well up on the original Q has gone up to about 90 were as before it was 86 , Signal has also gone up about the same . Sat used Astra 4 / Sirius 4 on H 12.303
I still have not adjusted the neck on corotor for max Q + Signal so will let you know what I can get out of it .This is with the Ku Lnb bolted straight onto the corotor . Not had a play with C band yet but I will get get Ku sorted first . One thing I can say is the feed is way off the centre of the dish seems to be about 3 inchs above the centre point of the dish I hope to sort this out with the new arms .

When all the above is done I will replace the feed arms since I then have a reference point to aim for then . Still looking for the firmware for the Sattlink 7009 meter as mine is 2014 and I think they have brought out 2019 version .

My thanks for all the feed back from everyone once its up and running again should any one want any picture reports on fringe reception in the UK let me know . Max is 65-70 East - 55 West .

 

[nelson_b]

As far as I can remember the motor has 3 wires Red , White + Black
Red is your 5 volt supply
White is Skew
Black is Gnd

Can someone confirm this ?

Yes i Can confirm ... that is correct ............ (-:

 

[subman]

Thanks Nelson I did take a photo of the wiring before I removed it but the wires have all lost the colour due to age so thought I better check . I will bell them out to the rx to double check .