Price Drop, Astro-Physics AP900-CP3 Mount & Portable Pier

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I have decided to end my astrophotography hobby.  I am selling the three elements of my setup separately (Planewave CDK 12.5, Astro-physics AP900 and SBIG 11000m/FW8).

 

This is the mount.  It was purchased used in 2007 from Jim Schenz on Astromart. It was a 2004 model and he was the original owner.

 

The mount included the following:

2004 model AP900GTO mount serial# 900322

- Hand controller with rubber protector

- Standard length counterweight shaft

- Two counterweights, 18 lb and 10 lb

- Astro-Physics DOVELM saddle to accept Losmandy dovetail plates

- Standard 12v power cable and Y-cable for RA/DEC drives

- A-P 8X48/42 Portable Pier (two tubes for the two heights)

 

Over the next few years I bought the following upgrades for the mount:

 

18SCWT

$140

 

18lb counterweight

M12601-B

$80.00

 

Older Style 19.5" Counterweight Shaft (M12601-B)

900DU

$650

 

Declination upgrade

  • Add new thrust bearing to the Dec worm wheel
  • Add preload system to shaft bearings
  • Add spring-loaded motor box bracket
  • Modify the worm bearing support and adjust preload
  • Set all preloads to factory specifications
  • Re-grease worm wheel and motor reduction gears
  • Test the fully assembled Dec. axis for precise reversal motion

GTOCP3

$995

 

Controller upgrade

900RPA

$325

 

Precision-adjust Rotating Pier Adapter

9AZKIT

$158

 

 

 

My asking price is $6000 (I paid $10,150).  Buyer pays shipping from zipcode 03063 in Nashua, NH.  I estimate the weight of the mount, counterweights and pier to be roughly 150lbs.

 

This mount is an excellent fit for my Planewave telescope and it has been a joy to use. It has always resided in my garage when it was not rolled onto my driveway for imaging.

 

My most recent reprogramming of the periodic error in aug-2017 yielded these results. The post correction error was a small fraction of an arcsecond.

Here is my last image of M27 from that same timeframe.