Rotor controller interface

Rotor controller and pc interface ,running K3NG software and M0UPU shield for the arduino.Easy to put together just a plug in affair .Longest job was cutting the hole for the lcd display .This is just the interface for the pc the relays and 24v supply will be at base of tower ...well thats the idea for the moment !!

Rotor output shaft

Here's the output shaft for the rotator 40mm round bar turned down to 25mm then a plate welded on ,faced off then recessed for the universal joint (EX Landrover of course)

Will it fit .....oh yes

Boss to fit on top of UJ and carry antenna pole

Rotator

Ok I got the tower up ,antenna on top ,but at the moment its fixed stateside .I need to turn it !!.cue drum roll.
.....Thats right its rotator time.Price of new ones are in the range of £1500 to £2000 with this kind of spec.Clearly im not going to pay that so here we are again in the workshop putting together a nice new one.
Motor is from a motorised invalid scooter they are on ebay Parvalux do one with reduction for around £30 ,not sure how long the price will last as it seems cheap to me !!Gearbox is a ....chinese one from the uk importer ,50:1 reduction worm drive price £79.

Output shaft on motor/gb is 12mm ,worm drive box input shaft is 14mm ..so we need a bush ,10 mins on lathe  ,you can see it in the pic .

 Motor/gb fits real snug into worm drive input shaft 

 Right upto the hilt ,picture from above motor/gb fitted ,we need adapter/torque reaction plate

Adapter plate for motor to gb 

Adapter plate fitted to motor

Motor/gb fitted to worm drive

Next is the base to tower connection ,this will also house the rotary encoder .Made with 316 stainless and 304, weld looks a little rough ....i didn't have any dissimilar rods left for the tig so a quick look in the stores and fortunately i had some 312 rods ,knocked the flux off and there ya go !!!

 Need a bottom flange to mount to the tower ..same footprint as the yaesu rotator and a shaft through the middle to fasten to the antenna pole to rotate it ...maybe tomorrow ???

Electric tower winch on original versatower mount

Motor is now mounted ,a further reduction though sprocket and chain

All tacked together,ready for welding up .The three holes at the back bolt to original hand winch mount.Fabrication wise all i need now is a chain guard.

For the idle cranker ...electric winch

Here we are again .Winding the tower up and down sucks ,so here's the solution .Basically what we have here is a bit of 50mm bar with some 5 mm plate bored and welded on for the side plates .Having some 40 mm bearings left over from a job means there the first port of call so the shaft is turned down to take them.

Almost finished cable drum need's to be drilled through side plate to hold the wire.The right hand extension will have a sprocket on a taper lock fitted this will be driven from a gearbox reduction with inverter for soft start ...happy days ...well nearly ....i can see the light !!!

Tower parts all back from the galvanizers,lower extension slid into base of old tower

 End welded on galvafroid over the weld joints.Re-roped ready to go

 Base put into place with trusty jcb ...bless it ,base comes in at 3/4 tonne .Bolted down with 8 x22mm bolts.

Here she is sat on the base .

First tilt over ,had a bit of a boo boo here the rope wasn't long enough duh!! came from original tower the arc was far smaller ,minor alteration from 3 falls to 2 ...its now long enough .Its 10mm rope and now has a better leverage over load (with lower extension) so will be ok !!!! 

 Antenna fitting went easy 

Clamp up mechanism and new stainless rope sheath ... lost the original one so knocked another up .

You can see here the rope route through tower and various pulleys..works great

Elements need a little leveling up ,will sort it out later .Was a bit of a struggle putting it up on my own  :-(