Be careful if you get the cast aluminum ones from Parallax. They work fine but are brittle. I had a set attached to an 8-inch Mak-Newt in the car and went over a big bump. When I went to get the scope out the rings were both cracked in half. If you get them don't leave them attached to the scope when transporting them. -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Chuck Hards Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2010 6:16 PM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] CGEM (Was: Atlas or CGEM?) Ok, after much wailing and gnashing of teeth, I managed to get the Orion 100mm ED converted to an Antares dual-speed focuser. The Orion screw that broke off was a huge pain in the @ss. I was not able to remove the broken portion, even after drilling a small hole through it and trying back it out with a home-made "easy-out" tool. In fact the drill bit broke and I manged to put a scratch in the beautiful anodizing of the focuser body itself. GRRRRRR! I had to get a diamond bit in a pencil grinder and remove enough of the projecting shard of the broken screw to remove the focuser from the telescope. Then I rotated the adapter 60 degrees and re-drilled and tapped three new mounting holes in it. So now it's FINALLY done and works well. I can't wait to use it with the new focuser. The next scope I intend to adapt to the CGEM is my home-made 6" f/8 Newtonian (see S&T, March '99 issue). I'm trying to decide whether to make my own dovetail plate or buy a commercial one; also whether I should use my home-made tube rings or spend an arm-and-a-leg for aluminum ones from Parallax. Stay tuned. _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php Visit the Wiki: http://www.utahastronomy.com