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Gobbleston
journeyman
Reged: 09/11/09
Posts: 9
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Ok, so first I just want to let it be known that this issue is killing me. I’m dying from it. I have searched and searched the internet over and over again, in different ways, and I find almost NOTHING regarding this subject. Anywhere. Everywhere. No matter how many different ways I look for it. I tell myself, I must just not be asking the right questions.
So, I’ve finally broken down and decided to post here, and maybe somebody can give me some answers.
Alright, So I have a Celestron CG-5 mount. I got it recently, and it didn’t come with a tripod. That’s fine. I have a tripod. A nice sturdy wooden tripod, which I’m told are better for this sort of thing anyways. Great Great. So, I’m looking at the pictures of the Cg-5 tripods, and in the instruction manual, and I see that they have a special way of mounting. It’s like a small cup area, with a polar.. oh I dunno, nub sticking up for fine tuning your polar alignment.
There’s even a website where a man rebuilds his tripod for using with a cg-5, and he casually mentions that he got an adaptor from a website. This adaptor simply doesn’t exist within our dimension. Or at least it stopped existing. I have searched and searched.
Are people not ever running into this issue? Are they just bolting the mount directly to the tripod? I feel like the cup area will give it extra support. I’m Thisssss close to getting some nice wood and a bolt and building that stupid cup area / polar nub. Thisss close. I’ll do it, dang it. Don’t temp me!  
As you can see, this issue is driving me absolutely mad.
There is a guy named Ken who has a website advertising the sale of EXACTLY the item I want. He says to email him for prices. His website has a guest book that hasn’t been signed since 2004. Not promising. I email him, and he responds with something completely unrelated to my pricing questions about the item I want.
If you want to see the item, the site is :
http://www.kendauzat.net/other/0827091b.jpg
There is also an entirely replacement tripod head by Vixen, which I could use and am thinking about for my tripod.
http://www.vixenoptics.com/acc/indiv/3828.html
But, I also have an old 1985 style giant satellite dish pier in my back yard that I would like to convert to be able to mount my cg-5 onto. So some kind of universal tripod or pier adaptor would be desirable for that.
Any ideas?
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Doug76
Postmaster
Reged: 12/05/07
Posts: 5543
Loc: SE Louisiana, future Texan
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If you are handy, you could investigate the Orion SVP Extension Post. It also fits the CG-5 mount. The top piece exactly duplicates the tripod "cup" including the "nub", which is a post used to adjust the mount side to side for polar alignment.
http://www.telescope.com/control/product/~category_id=mount_accessories/~pcategory=accessories/~product_id=07393
Although it will add height, you could probably figure out how to fit it to your satellite pier. Or you could replace the 16" long massive steel pillar with a shorter piece of aluminum tubing, as I did. Got it here, and this is what I got.
http://www.speedymetals.com/pc-4629-8371-4-od-x-125-wall-tube-6061-t6-aluminum.aspx
I bought a 6" length. You'd have to drill mounting holes for the top piece you need, but it's easy.
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Al Canarelli
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/06/07
Posts: 2611
Loc: Central New Jersey
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What you need is a TRIPOD RING MOUNT which was standard equipment prior to the tubular mounts Celestron has now equipped with the CG5. I use to buy them for my customers directly from Celestron and later from a dealer in Maryland...who no longer is able to get them. Most of the "clone" CG5 mounts, with the possible exception of Konus have changed over to the tubular legs, but any older CG5 mount or clone will have the ring you're looking for.
My suggestion is to telephone Konus first. If you can't find the ring you need, you may get a good woodworker to make an adapter for you. You will actually need 3 adapters, one for each of the 3 legs. The adapter will fit into the ring that you own and will accept your tripod on the other end.
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Sean Cunneen
Let Me Think
Reged: 08/01/07
Posts: 1221
Loc: Blue Island Illinois
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Check out Hands on Optics, the sell the Antares pier and they may have the hub seperate as well. They are good people to call. The other one is Astro-parts-outlet, you can find them listed on the right as a sponser. He has told me he wouldn't sell the hubs seperate, but maybe he's changed his mind.
The Other solution is to make your own out of wood. The hole tapers from 2-1/8" to 2"OD and the center bolt is 14mm(or maybe its 12mm) I made my own to fit a TAL pier, turned out better than I expected.
Good luck!
--------------------
Sean Cunneen
Blue Island, IL
12.5" Ultralight Strut Dob
127mm f/9 refractor
35Pan, 10XW, 5XO
Member of the Calumet Astronomical Society
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Billydee
super member
Reged: 01/23/08
Posts: 184
Loc: Winter Haven, FL
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Might be able to help with a pier top. This company has one for the CG-5. http://www.pierplates.com/
Luck, Bill
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ccs_hello
Post Laureate
Reged: 07/03/04
Posts: 3298
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May be this CN post could help.
Clear Skies!
ccs_hello
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Gobbleston
journeyman
Reged: 09/11/09
Posts: 9
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A lot of good suggestions, and I thank everybody for their time and effort. Unfortunately a lot of them were above what I want to pay at the moment. (about the buy a new house!) So I snapped and decided to make what I need. I had some nice pine wood from an earlier project, and made one piece to fit snug onto the tripod, and the second piece fits snug around the CG-5. (emulating the “cup” section of the tripod) After the two were attached, I drilled a hole, and from the bottom put through a screw that goes into a 1/4” coupler, that effectively sticks up and acts as the polar alignment post. A standard M10 bolt with a large washer goes through the bottom of the tripod and into the mount, and some turns with a wrench can get the whole thing pretty snug. It looks like absolute *BLEEP* because my wood-working is terrible-but functional. The whole thing fits together pretty well, but I haven’t had a chance to test out the performance because a horrendous Astro-curse has come down on northern California at the moment, blotting out the sun, the stars, the moon, and anything else worth looking at in the sky, possibly for all eternity. I apologize for bringing this upon us.
If anybody is interested, I could post pictures of my ghetto tripod adapter. 
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sherlock
member
Reged: 08/07/07
Posts: 17
Loc: SE Michigan
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You seem to have solved the problem, and I'm not sure what sort of tripod you have, but if it is a 'surveyor tripod', Universal Astronomics has several adapters that might suit you.
www.universalastronomics.com
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