iStars new focuser

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Well , I am a happy camper .

I did a cheeky thing a while ago and hit Codemonkey ( Lee ) up if he would sell the original 3inch R&P focuser off his 120mm SW Esprit refractor after he mentioned getting a Moon Light for his Esprit .

Being such a good guy it was not a problem and after the lost lock lever arrived from Tasco and the Moon Light fitted to his 120mm APO a deal was struck ,,,, great deal too .
Thanks Lee.

The focuser arrived in short order ( thanks OZ Post ) but it was to small to fit the ID of the iStar tube being about 10mm bigger . what to do ??.
To cut a longish story short I made up a ring to fit both the OD of the R&P focuser and ID of the tube and as I had a day off yesterday fitted it , checked collumation and took her outside for a look at the moon ,,, but it rained here last night , but looking better for tonight .

It looks very sexy on the iStar and has a nice feel , not quite as good as the FT3035 I had on my sold 127mm triplet but very nice at 1/10th the cost I ain't complaining .
Here is a few photos , its a well made and solid bit of gear and as a visual guy is more than up to the task , on that it held 1kg of Celestron 31mm Axiom LX eyepiece at vertical no problems .

Hope you all enjoy and as always comments welcome .

Brian.

[Tinderboxsky (Steve)]

Looks the goods Brian.

Cheers

Steve

[MattT]

Does look like it was made for the scope. Nice bit of work Brian.

Is it a 'real' 3" focuser...that is can you use a 3" diagonal on it? Or is it a fake one like the GSO's, that as far as I know are 3" but only have a 2" capacity. The one I have the 2" part unscrews leaving threads and a slightly bigger than 3" drawtube with no way of attaching a 3" part, unlesss its avaliable as an addition from somewhere...

[codemonkey (Lee)]

Sheesh, you keep telling everyone I'm such a good guy and you'll ruin my reputation Brian! ;-)

Lookin' good, glad it's doing the job for you. Funny thing is, I just broke my Moonlite and now I'm thinking "damn it, I shouldn't have sold the stock one!" That's the way things go sometimes I guess. I think this hobby is finally starting to teach me to have a little patience...

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

How did you break a moonlight? , stick a grenade under it ?.
Brian.

[codemonkey (Lee)]

I got impatient... had several shaft couplers, none quite the right size. So I took one that was fractionally too small and tried to tap it onto the shaft normally attached to the fine focus control.

Loooong story short, I need a new shaft / knob assembly now. Ron from Moonlite is awesome and is replacing that for half the normal price, which is great. Apparently he's got special gear to get it all aligned properly again so he doesn't really just send out the parts, which means I unfortunately have to send it back to the US. Since I've been out of action for a little while due to having no LRGB filters and poor weather, I'll hold off for a bit as coarse focus still works fine.

Long story short even shorter: don't hit Moonlite's with hammers.

[FlashDrive (Poppy)]

That looks very nice Brian...

Nice Upgrade ...

Col....

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

or grenades , ouch Lee what ever were your thoughts mate .

Those damn Americans still using imperial sizes , you gotta watch that.
A 6mm bush won't quite fit 17/32 diameter shaft , sorry mate but I have worked on a few. HD,s over the years.

Speedy delivery on the new parts .
Brian.

Originally Posted by codemonkey

I got impatient... had several shaft couplers, none quite the right size. So I took one that was fractionally too small and tried to tap it onto the shaft normally attached to the fine focus control.

Loooong story short, I need a new shaft / knob assembly now. Ron from Moonlite is awesome and is replacing that for half the normal price, which is great. Apparently he's got special gear to get it all aligned properly again so he doesn't really just send out the parts, which means I unfortunately have to send it back to the US. Since I've been out of action for a little while due to having no LRGB filters and poor weather, I'll hold off for a bit as coarse focus still works fine.

Long story short even shorter: don't hit Moonlite's with hammers.

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Thanks flash , its such a fine focuser I am finding myself doing a very critical test of 3 of my mid power TV eyepieces' , the awesome 19mm Panoptic , perfect 18mm Radian and my new to me 21mm smooth side Plossl , great fun on tonight's 7 day old moon and impressive views in my 127mm f8 iStar , man this is a good scope .

I have taken photos and notes so a lunatic /refractorholic,s report tomorrow some time. .

Brian.

Originally Posted by FlashDrive

That looks very nice Brian...

Nice Upgrade ...

Col....

[brian nordstrom (As avatar)]

Sorry Steve for not replying sooner , still out enjoying the scope , just popped in to grab a cold beer �� , good night here tonight .
Brian,
.