New Celestron CGE Pro mount!!!

[Ad Astra]

Hi Folks!

Well Saturday was indeed the big day! Journeyed down to Oceanside Photo & Telescope (2 hour drive in the rain!) and walked away with a new mount, and a mount dolly from JMI. Total cost out the door, about $5100 including tax.

I was good and took several unboxing and assembly photos - but I have to process them yet. I'll probably post pictures later today or early tomorrow. The Apomax looks really good on the new mount and it seems rock solid... and it should be! The mount itself is about 40 kg, the tripod is 25 kg, and there are 20 kg of counterweights on it. With the dolly and tube rings - the entire thing pushes 90 kg before the scope is even on it! The mount splits into an equatorial saddle and the combined RA/Dec axis parts - this helps a little, but I got quite a surprise assembling it - doing the 'clean & jerk' with 25 kg from floor to 7 ft high was much more effort than I thought it would be. (I need to work out more!!!)

Of course, rain and clouds for the 'super moon' on Saturday, and we really got pounded with wind and rain Sunday and again today (lots of flooding out by us! )

I'll give you all a first light report as soon as I get some good weather to test it out. (very depressed about the bad weather last few weeks!)

Photos on the way!!!

Dan

[Rossco72]

Looking forward to the review, should be a great bit of kit.

[Andrew*]

That should hold an 80mm ED scope quite nicely!

Sounds great - looking forward to some photos

Andrew

[Ad Astra]

That should hold an 80mm ED scope quite nicely!

Sounds great - looking forward to some photos

Andrew

80 mm ED, eh? Not quite! My Apomax is a real monster - almost 7 ft long with dew cap & focuser extended - about 20 kg all told.

The Apomax is the of lunar and planetary work!!! First light coming soon!

Dan

[Andrew*]

Just kidding . I saw that beauty of a scope in your other thread. Looks veeery nice. Bring on the pics!

Andrew

[Ad Astra]

Sorry about delay in photos....

Mrs. Astra and I have worse than the usual clouds and rain after an astronomical purchase -- we both have the flu.

I promise to try to post photos later today if I can.... it will probably make me feel better anyway.

Dan

[kris h]

Congrats Dan on the new mount saw your other thread the other

day about it the CGE should have no probs with the Green Monster

& i thought my mount was heavy cant wait to see the pics .

clear skies

[Ad Astra]

Hi folks!

Here are the photos of the new mount!

First couple are of the boxed mount in my living room - Mrs. Astra and my little dog pose here for scale. For those of you who don't believe in miracles... I just spent $5K and my wife is posing (smiling mind you!) by the boxes filling her home!

[Ad Astra]

Here is the tripod box opened up - isn't it pretty! Next photo is the big fellow set up in the living room.

the tripod legs are really massive - 3" stainless!

[brantuk]

That's your "grab and go" sorted then lol

Sounds awesome - looking forward to seeing it assembled - congrats

[Ad Astra]

Next came the JMI scope dolly. This is really nice and ships in a very compact box. Once assembled, the dolly is very sturdy, and holds the weight without a problem. I already have a JMI dolly for our CGEM-11 at school, so I knew what I wanted for myself. Jim Burr of JMI is a good friend and makes a wonderful product!

Adjusting the height of the tripod / dolly combo is a little tricky, as the dolly needs to be adjusted with tools and the width of the dolly must be matched to the width of the tripod legs. The final combo had to be changed - Mrs. Astra laughed until she cried when she pointed out that the new "monster" was now too tall to get out the front door! It is really to be for rolling out from the garage to the observing patio, so this will take some tinkering!

[Ad Astra]

Unboxing the EQ head was challenging - because you have to reach down into a deep box and pull out a plastic-wrapped 40 kg object!

Electronics are all in the short pier extension and the mount attaches to the top. Everything fits quite well and goes together easily.

[Ad Astra]

Final assembled mount!

I'm not putting the scope on it until I can do that outside (obviously!)... and the weather stinks just now besides Mrs. Astra and I being under the weather.

Final photo of the Apomax on its new home will have to wait a day or two more for first light. The Weatherman (stinker that he is) is predicting rain and showers for another week straight.

Hey! I thought this was the desert!!!!

Dan

[Beyond_Vision]

Here's hoping the weather will be kind to you I bet you cant wait to use it in earnest

Regards

Kevin

[Rossco72]

Looks great, looking forward to a first light in due course...