Dish structure, plus azimuth and elevation drives

These pictures show the structure of the dish and some of the arrangements to drive the dish in azimuth and elevation.

The hub is made from 10 mm stainless steel, the ribs are 25 x 25 mm aluminium box profile. The ribs are pop-riveted with gusset plates. The mesh is 12 mm galvanized iron. Total weight of the dish alone is around 300 kg.

The hub is bolted to a plate welded on a 2" steel rod that is mounted in heavy duty bearings. On top of this plate, on a hinge, is the elevation drive. The 1" lead screw extends back to a specially made bolt that sits between two bearings. Elevation is very slow, about 30 minutes for 90 degrees. Details are difficult to see as the I did not remove the elevation drive cover when I took the pictures at -25 C in January..

The azimuth mast inside the tower is driven by a heavy duty chain coupled to a worm gearbox. 360 degree rotation takes 26 minutes at slow speed (normal tracking speed) and approx. 2 minutes in fast speed.

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