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View Full Version here: : 3D printed motorfocuser mount for Evostar ED50


garymck
15-11-2022, 12:21 PM
Hello,
the Evostar ED50 guider makes a nice cheap widefield imager when combined with the Starizona matching field flattener. The only issue is that there are no commercial motor focusers available to fit it. A friend who is an engineer (Maurice Valimberti) designed the focuser mount here for me.

It was printed with Esun PLA+ on an Ender 3 Pro using 20% infill.

I used 3 brass inserts that are melted into the PLA using a soldering iron. These were sized for m3 x 12mm cap screws.
The motor is mounted with the cap screws that come with the Focus Motor. There are slots in the mount so you can shift the motor to tighten the drive belt.

The GT2 timing belt was made by cutting the belt a bit too long trimming 3 teeth off leaving the bare belt and overlap gluing the two ends of the belt with CA

The ZWO motor has backlash, as does the helical focuser. In NINA I used backlash 700, step size 1500. This is because the focuser has an extremely fine action.

The large gear is an extremely tight fit, but size can be adjusted using the "horizontal expansion" setting in Cura if it is too small/large for your focuser.

There are holes include for locking screws on the gear and motor mount, but I made mine a tight fit and don't need them.

Pics attached

If you want a copy of the stl's pm me - do not want to put them up publicly just yet, but happy to send you a copy.
cheers
Gary

dikman
15-11-2022, 12:31 PM
Your friend did a great job designing that, looks good.

ChrisV
17-11-2022, 10:58 PM
Looks nice!
Has anyone ever pulled apart a ZWO focuser to see what stepper motor is inside. I assume its some sort of tin-can stepper with a built in gear box given all the backlash?

garymck
19-11-2022, 10:32 AM
The backlash is high in this instance due to the nature of the ed50 focuser. On my other scopes the backlash is more like 120. I believe the motor is a geared dc servo.
Cheers