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Lane
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/19/07
Posts: 1507
Loc: Frisco, Texas
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Just in case anyone is interested I tried out the ADM D-series side by side plate on my cgem. I got it with two dual saddles and a set of 1.25" rings on a 7" vixen dovetail. The SBS and Saddles weigh in at 7 lbs 11 ozs. The ring set and dovetail were 2 lbs even. So a lot of extra weight to carry on the mount. Heavier than I was expecing it to be.
I tried it out tonight with the C9.25 and ED80, then I tried it with the C11 and ED80. Easy to get perfect balance in both configurations. I could loosen both locks and put the scopes in any position and they did not drift from that position. It was also easy to get both scopes aimed in the same direction with those ADM rings. I switched the scope orientation setting to "West", did the alignment, and the GoTo's were dead on.
The C11, ED80, red dot finder, 8x50 fider, two 2" diagonals, two 2" Naglers, SBS Plate, and adjustable rings came to a total of about 47 lbs, and I was using 51.5 lbs of counter weights, one 7.5 and four 11 lb weights and that used the entire counterweight bar. Damping time was 2 seconds, which is 1 second higher than the C11 by itself on that mount. I think in a windy situation it would not be good, but I had a mild breeze blowing tonight and that presented not problems at all.
I tried the C9.25 with a vixen dovetail as well, which put the weight at about 40 lbs with 40 lbs of counter weights. Damping time was under 2 seconds for that setup and focusing without shaking the mount was easier than with the C11, although it wasn't all that bad with the C11 either.
I think for astrophography either of these would be pushing it. The C8 and ED80 would probably be the better setup for that. But for visual use both these setups work great. I could probably have used the vixen side by side and two vixen saddles with the C9.25 and ED80 setup and saved some weight, but I am not sure how stable the small bars would be.
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Mounts: CGEM, ORION SIRIUS, AT Voyager/motorized
SCTs: C6, C8, C9.25, C11,
Refractors: TV Pronto, Orion ED80
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ned_l
sage
Reged: 03/12/07
Posts: 200
Loc: north carolina
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Thanks for the info, any chance you could post pictures of the set up? Sounds pretty awesome.
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8" Orion Newtonian w/ Sky View Pro mount
Feather Touch focuser
Stellarvue 102 ED
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Lane
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/19/07
Posts: 1507
Loc: Frisco, Texas
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Not very good shots, but here they are anyway. This is the C11 and ED80
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Mounts: CGEM, ORION SIRIUS, AT Voyager/motorized
SCTs: C6, C8, C9.25, C11,
Refractors: TV Pronto, Orion ED80
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Lane
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/19/07
Posts: 1507
Loc: Frisco, Texas
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Here is the C8 and ED80
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Mounts: CGEM, ORION SIRIUS, AT Voyager/motorized
SCTs: C6, C8, C9.25, C11,
Refractors: TV Pronto, Orion ED80
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Lane
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/19/07
Posts: 1507
Loc: Frisco, Texas
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Here is the C9.25 and ED80
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Mounts: CGEM, ORION SIRIUS, AT Voyager/motorized
SCTs: C6, C8, C9.25, C11,
Refractors: TV Pronto, Orion ED80
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Lane
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/19/07
Posts: 1507
Loc: Frisco, Texas
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Here is what the dual sbs looks like on the mount, I also have the adm replacment saddle on my cgem.
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Mounts: CGEM, ORION SIRIUS, AT Voyager/motorized
SCTs: C6, C8, C9.25, C11,
Refractors: TV Pronto, Orion ED80
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NKT
super member
Reged: 09/23/09
Posts: 157
Loc: CT
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Awesome! Thank you for the great info! 
It's the exact set up I want to use with my C8.
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CGEM800
Orion 80ED
Canon XSi/Meade DSI II
Find fellow amateur astronomers: www.ScopeBuddies.com
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ned_l
sage
Reged: 03/12/07
Posts: 200
Loc: north carolina
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Thanks for the pics, it looks really nice. Congrats on a cool set up.
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8" Orion Newtonian w/ Sky View Pro mount
Feather Touch focuser
Stellarvue 102 ED
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bbbri
newbie
Reged: 11/05/09
Posts: 1
Loc: Lebanon, Ohio, United States
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Thanks for posting the pictures. It's been hard to find any non-corporate info on the CGEM. How does the side by side work with the goto? Is there a setting in the software to tell the mount the scopes are at a 90 degree angle?
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Brian
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Lane
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/19/07
Posts: 1507
Loc: Frisco, Texas
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Quote:
How does the side by side work with the goto?
Side by Side has no negative effects on GOTO. I did my usual collimation of the C11 then did the aligmnment process with the C11. After that was done, I centered a bright star low on the horizon in the C11 then adjusted the rear rings around the ED80 until I had that same star centered in the ED80. Make sure you do this last step on a star that is low on the horizon, because when you loosen those rear rings the scope can slip if it is aimed to high. It needs both sets of rings tight to hold it in place. I learned this the hard way 
Quote:
Is there a setting in the software to tell the mount the scopes are at a 90 degree angle?
Yes - that is what I meant in the original post by changing the orientation setting to "west". It is clearly explained in the user manual.
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Mounts: CGEM, ORION SIRIUS, AT Voyager/motorized
SCTs: C6, C8, C9.25, C11,
Refractors: TV Pronto, Orion ED80
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dvb
different Syndrome.
Reged: 06/18/05
Posts: 3019
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Nice set-up!
I suppose a bit of weight be shaved off by using just a Vixen-type saddle for the ED80 rings, instead of one with full Losmandy-type functionality.
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"But seeing through a telescope is 50% vision and 50% imagination." - Chet Raymo
Skywatcher 10" f/4.7 Newt on Matilda
Celestron CF 9.25"
Vixen CF 8" f/4 Newt
Meade 8" SN f/4
Celestron C6 SCT
Skywatcher ED100
Skywatcher ED80
EQ6 Pro "Matilda"
AT Voyager
Canon 15x50is
Mallincam HyperColor Plus
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Lane
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/19/07
Posts: 1507
Loc: Frisco, Texas
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Since my C9.25 has the vixen dovetail I could actually have a complete vixen sbs setup for that ota combination. I am actually considering ordering one just to see how well it will work, it would cut about 5 lbs off the total setup.
I mainly got the D-series setup because I wanted to see if it would work with the C11 and it did.
But the cost is cheap so I am probably going to get a complete vixen setup too and also order a vixen dovetail for my C8. A C8 with a d-series dovetail is really overkill, I have been needing to swap that out for a long time.
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Mounts: CGEM, ORION SIRIUS, AT Voyager/motorized
SCTs: C6, C8, C9.25, C11,
Refractors: TV Pronto, Orion ED80
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