Rick Tavan N6XI wrote:
> recommended, intend to put it off as long as possible. There is also no
> advice on how to force the bottom section to fit the baseplate. (It took
> three men jumping on a huge crowbar.) And no comment on mis-drilled
> coax-arm
What I did was to buy an extended taper alignment pin from McMasterCarr
and pound it into the top hole with a sledge hammer. This aligns
all the lower holes to the point where I can get the bolts into them. I
tighten all those bolts first before knocking the aligment pin out of the
top hole. The lower bolts will then hold it in place so you can
put in the top bolt.
If necessary, you can put an extension pipe on the alignment pin and
pull it sideways to get even better alignment. I can operate this myself
because the leverage is so high.
McMasterCarr also sells an aligner that you turn with a wrench.
Looks like a good idea in the catalog, but it isn't worth a damn
when you actually try to use it. Don't waste $60 on this. The
alignment pin was something like $10.
BTW, to get vertical alignment of the tower, I place an "aluminum
racing jack" under the tower and bleed the release valve until I
get perfect vertical alignment of the holes in the 3rd set of holes
(opposite the pivoting holes). This jack is the only one low enough
to squeeze between the tower and base plate, where only 2 inches of
clearance is available. The jacks are available at Harbor Freight
and various auto stores. You must remove the cradle and roller to
get the height down to 2 inches. As received, it only does 3 inches.
With the techniques above, I can get the tower tilted up and bolted
in less than an hour by myself, including turning the crank 1000+ times.
It has been tilted up and down dozens of times for experiments.
I've never asked UST what they think. This is just what has worked
for me.
Rick N6RK
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