I was wondering if anyone has used a GSO 10:1 newtonian focuser, orion accufocus and FSUSB from Shoestring astronomy for electronic focusing? If so how well does it perform and any pics of the setup? Thinking of doing this for my 8" f/6 newtonian.
Yep - I had that on my Newt before switching to a moonlite. It worked well. I machined up a link to attach the accufocus to the GSO shaft as the one that came with the accufocus was too big.
I did this with my SW Newt 8, Skywatcher electric focuser, FCUSB and standard single-speed crayford and it works well. No need for 10:1 unit.
Just plug the FCUSB cable into the focuser instead of the hand unit and away you go. I used a simple handmade bracket and bronze coupling from Jaycar. I have photos if you wish.
I use the standard FCUSB software via a laptop with Remote Desktop from inside my house.
It's so convenient, it's a real PITA to go back to the WO Megrez, that I have yet to make a bracket for, and focus manually.
Some positive feedback here. I have Peter's old accufocus on my standard Skywatcher crayford hooked up to FCUSB, then my USB hub, then a 10m active USB lead. Let's me drive everything from inside if I want to avoid mossies or cold. Only time I need to go out is to put Bhat mask in or out of OTA. Have played a bit with Focus max but the Bhat and accufocus make it so easy its a very low priority ATM. Had to make up another bracket for mounting but still using Peter's old brass adaptor fitting.
One thing with the cheaper crayfords is you really need to turn the lock screw for peace of mind and then double check focus hasn't changed. You shouldn't get that sort of extra fiddling about with quality units or risk not having camera straight.
Okay thanks guys, I was more interested to know about the 10:1 part of it, as I used to have a JMIdx3 crayford connected to an accufocus, which worked terrific... thanks again...
