Posts Made By: Adam Albino

Silly question - I'm at work and can't measure until tonight - does anyone know the length of the Losmandy GM-8 counterweight shaft when unscrewed from the mount? And if possible - what the diam of the 21lb counterweight is....

Optically there is NO difference. They are the same OTA.

Forks vs GEM's are a personal preference. I have always liked GEM's better - much easier to balance when using heavy accessories, and viewing near the pole's is not an issue.

My only comment to the two choices you gave is IMO the 9.25 OTA is too much for the cg5 mount. The CGE version is by far better - visual only or not.

Anyone have one of these? I have two I'm putting back into commission - What filters are you using?

OK, so say you had a "friend" that bought a new house. The house was in a pretty rural area for it's part of the country, but that there was this Street Light - see - that just so happens to be right outside the @#$#$%^& house. Now in his younger days my "friend" would just get out the air rifle or the .22 and show the light a thing or two - but alas, he no longer wishes to start a neighbor war - and with things being so PC these days - well you get the idea... Anyway, I've heard folks using laser pointers aimed at the little solar sensor on the light top and wondering if anyone has had such success - you know so I can let my "friend" know - before he does something rash - like take out the chain saw to the pole....

I noticed no real answers either (although the C4 plastic expolsive comment was rather interesting). Thanks for your response - I'll give the red laser a try - I have plenty of tripods...

I will say the Light in question is turning out to be rather less intrusive then I had thought - it's one of the newer "amber" types and not as "bright" as a standard white sodium light - and appears to be well baffled. Also the house blocks the light completely.

We shall see....

Many of these long focal simple designs are favored by those doing Solar projection viewing as well. Vixen, Intes (and maybe Tak?) also carried a series of Ha and Ra designs for the same years ago.

Vixen Polaris mount. Smaller and lighter then the SP/GP mounts - their little brother so to speak. Very stable and typical Vixen Quality. Best mount for the 100mm and less Refractors.

Hi Mike - I don't post on the forums very much but I do have a bit of experience with this mount and adjusting it. First the basic IMHO tirade that no forum on the internet should be without….

I have owned a G-11and currently this CI-700. Personally I think this mount got a bit of a “bad” rap over a bit of nitpicky items like non-adjustable tripod legs (which IMO mean squat compared to things like tracking). Overall the mount is quite well built, will track as well or even better then the stock G-11, and can handle the same weight OTA’s (Some engineers have gone so far as to say even more then the G-11). There was a great comparison buy a guy named Geoff on one of the boards a while ago – he’s a bit more tech then me and was a great write up.

Now it does have some issues – such as fit and finish isn’t quite up to Losmandy par and its WAY too “modular” in design – which, I think, is causing what you’re encountering. I spoke to Celestron recently on adjusting the mount – their reply was basically “no tricks – we assemble, put in box, and shipped ‘em”. Because there are so many damn parts – multiple piece brackets, and a gazillion Allen wrench screws it’s hard to keep things aligned – and as you found - tight. Your use of lock tite (or just plain silicone) was as good a solution for loosening screws as any (BTW Almost all mounts I’ve owned experience this to some extent).

OK – The real problem I’ve had was binding between the two Gear wheels due to the worm gear housing not being aligned. There are 4 clutches on the mount – The RA Clutch, the Dec Clutch, the RA slow motion Clutch, and the Dec Slow Motion Clutch. As an aside, if either or both of the latter are tight (IE the motors are now engaged – don’t use the slow motion knobs) – Vixen has a similar design – and while they “should” slip, more then once on my old SP mount I’ve broken the motor shaft (my bad….). If you need to move the mount while these are engaged, just loosen the RA/Dec clutches and move the mount by hand. Now on the “Binding” issue (which is what I think you are experiencing). First loosen the slow motion clutch and tighten the ra/dec clutches. Turn the slow motion knob (moving the tube) – watch the large gear on each the worm shaft (not the worm gear itself). If the gear seems to move (or the shaft) in an elliptical – then your worm housing needs adjusting. Loosen the 4 Allen wrench screws slightly and adjust. It might take SEVERAL tries. I’m sure someone with a feeler gauge could make shorter more uniform adjustments – but I never found it necessary. Keep in mind it’s much more important to have the RA aligned. The dec a little off never bugged me too much. It also helps to loosen the worm shaft screw (the one under that plastic cap) when seating the worm gear.

Hope this helped!

Talk to SAC - they used to offer amplifired cable for anthing over 25 feet.

The Super Polaris - SPC-8 on the Vixen Super Polaris mount was sold from around 84-89. Then it became the GP-C8 (Great Polaris)on the Vixen Great Polaris mount. The first years the OTA was attached via hinged rings. Later versions had a dovetail. The C-8+ (Actually Super C-8+) was a fork mounted C-8 and the first of the "Black" tubes.