As you may have read in my previous pages Dave Rubenhagen, master machinist and good friend, made me a Losmandy to Vixen adapter for my Celestron CGE mount. All of my telescopes have Vixen dovetails and as I still use my HEQ5 it made more sense to adapt the scope's dovetails to the CGE than to change all of the dovetails and adapt them to the HEQ5. On another little 'project' Dave masterfully replicated my C8's Ken's Rings guidescope rail so I could carry the guidescope on my Stellarvue 80/9D.
Now, deciding that a side-by-side mounting was in order I once again went a-begging to Dave and, as always, he offered up his shop and expertise. With an idea in mind I purchased a 12" x 6" piece of 3/8" aluminum plate and a 6" x 6" piece of 1/2" aluminum plate and hied me off to Dave's garage for the build. He drilled and tapped four holes in the Losmandy to Vixen adapter and the guidescope rail. Next a new Losmandy dovetail and spacer plate were fabricated on the mill out of the 1/2" stock; the spacer to allow clearance for the mount's declination clutch knobs. These were screwed together using 10-24 hex screws. Once all of the bits and pieces were finished the 3/8" plate was drilled and counter-sunk for the top parts and twelve holes were drilled in two rows of six to allow the dovetail/spacer to be screwed to the bottom with some adjustment for balance. This because the CGE uses microswitches to set it's 'home position' and you can't just turn the mount head 90 degrees to use a side-by-side plate like you would on a Losmandy. All of the measuring and drilling done, everything was screwed together and is ready to use.
Now my imaging scopes will clamp into the Vixen dovetail at one end and my guidescope rings will clamp onto the rail at the other. The Losmandy DSBS unit weighs 7.25lb and an ADM adapter for the CGE another couple; this piece tips the scales at about 6.2lb; not that the CGE would care much.
Here is the fixture alone and with my C8 and NH2 mounted
