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 ???