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CEM 70 + TRI-PIER


Grumpy Spider

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Firstly thanks to FLO for shipping in less time than on the website and for some good advice.

 

So the beast ready to play.

 

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I guess start at the bottom and work up. The Tri-Pier arrived on a single skin box which to be honest is more than adequate for the Tri-Pier as there is more than enough air space around it if something should penetrate the box, but no pretty case like our cousins over the pond seem to get. Save the piece of foam protecting the head of the Tri-Pier,( should you be a philestine that does not save your astro packaging.) you will need it to protect the head when you turn it upside down to retrieve the legs hidden inside the pier tube (what a great idea) and fit them. Thoughts well it goes together easily, compared to the other mounts we have owned ( HEQ5 pro eq3 etc) and the CEM25p we still own the Tri-Pier is in a class of its own rock solid, easy to adjust for level by moving legs in or out, the anti vibration feet seem to do their job well the Tri-Pier could be compared to a rather well built small building. I only really have one small criticism on our Tri-Pier the paint appears to be very soft if you look at the above image where the mount meets the Tri-Pier you can see shiney Ali alloy and the top of the Tri-Pier is a bit of a mess from fitting the mount twice once indoors and once outside, the main tube of the Tri-Pier also has small dings in the paint from the collars even tho' I did loosen them. Would it stop me buying the Tri-Pier again NO nor do I intend asking FLO to rectify the paint. Hopefully in the spring or this winter it will be going into an observatory so I will fix the paint then and it will not get moved.

 

The top bit a CEM 70 mount, it is a heavy beast compared to what I am used to but mass equals dampening with lumps of metal. First impressions were good, a good selection of  I/O ports and a couple 12v inputs which feed the inbuilt Ipolar camera and the mount itself. The method of fixing the mount to the TRI-PIER is different consisting of two pocketed captured sprung Allen head machine screws this did require a bit of a phaff compared to the methods employed on a lot of mounts. After the first attempts at mounting I marked the the appropriate holes etc with tape which did help and applied a fair amount of tape in the areas of the mount which could be in the firing line of the allen key supplied (The key locks the RA during transit via a small hole if you can not find it). Last evening I assembled the CEM 70 AND TRI-PIER in the garden after dark just to try it i would normally do it in day light but not everyone can in the winter. Bear in mind it was my third attempt it took approx 5minutes to bolt it down and sort latitude setting which is the best I have used, Next came the polar aligning if you look at the block paving you can see three small silver paint dots they point north so rough align was easy. Plug usb and 12v into the mount where the eyepiece of the polar scope is normally you  do not need to power up the main mount. Plug your usb into  you laptop or pc boot the Ipolar software and follow the on screen prompts but it does help if you have read the manual as well. It was fastest and easiest PA I have ever done I did glance at my watch as I booted the software it took less than 5 minutes before the the big claret dot and cross turned green. I then mounted the scope disconnected the Ipolar and connected 12v and hand controller to the main mount, chose Jupiter from the menu just got Jupiter on the edge of a 35mm eyepiece as glow, did the usual shuffle with the buttons synced Jupiter did my usual slew back to Polaris which appeared in the middle of a 15mm near enough me, then spent all of 10  minutes staring at Jupiter with various eyepieces until FLO's clouds arrived late by about 10 days thanks FLO.

Good: The CEM 70 is very quiet even slewing my bucket around. Adjusting the mount during polar aligning is very easy in both axis you only have two bolts to loosen a quarter turn for latitude and you have a nice capstan knob which will take a short bar if you have put a heavy load on before you do your PA, I just twisted it with my fingers then tightened the two bolts with no appreciable drift. The RA you twist two opposing bolts with very nice knobs no other bolts to loosen or tighten easy compared to some.

Bad: The CEM 70 mounting bolts are a bit of pain, I think the problem stems from them being spring loaded and having bits of the mount in the way but I found it doable and with use I think it will be easier. My other gripe is the internal wiring it is part sleeved and part not, from an engineering stand point I find that puzzling .

Overal I think it is a great combination and none of gripes would stop my buying either again I think the engineering side of it is good but perhaps it could have done with a bit of input from a decent design engineer that would have given them 10/10 instead of 9.925/10.

Pointers: If you are going to mount a scope similar to the one below order some more counterweights from FLO it will save time and Make sure your laptops version of windows is young enough to run .NET FRAMEWORK 4.8 because trying to explain to better half why a household that runs on all apple stuff now needs a new windows laptop to run your nice new shiny CEM 70 PA software can cause some friction. Right hope the above is of some interest will report more as I use the gear , I am off to earn brownie points for some more weights.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks for the report. I gather that you are using the mount visually for now?

What made you select this mount Vs the CEM60 or similar? Availability, specs, or ...?

It's my impression that the software part is still immature?

N.F.

 

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I have the CEM 60 and tri-pier, very nice gear, I thought long and hard about the CEM 70 but out here any large gear is difficult to move on S/H and I would have bought it for my LX 12 inch for photography and many better than me have said don't go there, so I didn't.

Looks very nice though.

Alan

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Hi Sorry N.F and Alan I did not see your posts apologies.

N.F. Yes upto last evening I had been playing with my WO 103 and SW mak  visually, getting to know the software etc. As to what made me select the CEM 70 and TriPier I already have a CEM25p which I had brought for mobile when we go away in the caravan, hence the the 2 smaller scopes. I  was impressed with the engineering on the 25p, the last  mounts I had when I last played were SW HEQ 5 pro  and a fork mounted C14 at the time and what I could afford they were good but I think the CEM25p is a lot better, so I could not get a CEM 60 so took a deep breath and went for the CEM 70 and TriPier so far no regrets mechanically  or with the software. Last evening I had a play with the EDGE HD 11 and cameras , apart from the Edge being a long way out of collimation and it would appear the mount has no problems with the weight. If I was in the market for a mount again I would look at IOptron again.

 

Alan. I guess it is a pain if you want to upgrade and the S/H market is not very active for large gear. I was originally going for the CEM60 and TriPier but could not find one, I think FLO were saying 40-60 days from memory, so having returned to Astronomy after a long break and now with the filters at reasonable prices I decided to go back to imaging at home so I bit the bullet and with the wife's encouragement went for the CEM70 and TriPier, a bit more payload and so far been very pleased. The built in Ipolar is great I can't believe how quick PA is. Why were you advised against the CEM 70 ? from what I can see the engineering is mature and software is no worse than any other, I do think the uplift in price was  a bit harsh from the CEM 60, but it looks from hindsight that it was an upgrade from the CEM 60 which it is meant to replace. Also I am impatient and S/H mounts are like rocking horse stuff at the moment lol.

 

Hope the above answers your posts

Regards Colin

 

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