focusmax and FSQ85

[graham.hobart]

Hello, I am hoping for some clear skies in the coming months to automate my focusing. I have fitted a robofocus to the FSQ 85.
Has anyone been down this path before with a babyQ and who would want to share some settings that they found successful?
It is the standard FSQ85 and standard Robofocus motor.
Cheers if you can help in any way
Graham :thumbsup:

[gregbradley]

Not baby Q but I have fitted a Robofocus to a few FSQ 106's.

You need the correct Tak bush for the Robofocus otherwise it will wobble and be hard to turn smoothly. Robofocus sells specific bushes for Taks. Also they sell a specific L mounting bracket with specific mounting screws.

With that its a piece of cake.

FSQ design is very sensitive to temp change, more so than any other scope I have used. So every 1 degree temp change you need to refocus. Perhaps getting the temp sensor and try the temp compensation feature.

Although I am not sure how good it is. Temperature compensation assumes a linear rate of change of focus with temperature. This assumption may not be true. For example my AP Riccardi Honders needs to be refocused about an hour after first use assuming about an hour's cooldown beforehand. But once the temp has dropped and that first refocus is done it does not shift focus that much at all. So recently using the temp compensation focus in Sky X it made the first hour's subs sharp then gradually it pushed it out of focus.

Myself I am planning to implement the Optec Lacerta system for continuous autofocus without FocusMax, slewing to certain stars etc etc. Its simple and it apparently it works well. You need a Lodestar and an OAG for it though.

Greg.