wuthton

I used the dovetail bar. You can measure the required belt length with a piece of string.

I couldn't test it last night as I had other commitments (unfortunately). Thank you for the hard work, I'll certainly give it a go at the first available opportunity.

Me too!

I feel like I've cheated with your girlfriend.

Thanks for that! FWHM is so much more precise when using measured steps to focus.

I used it remotely last night with APT's FWHM and it worked like a charm.

A roll off roof obsy is high on my list of things to do, alas is doesn't even make the top ten on my wife's list of things to do.

Well... that was a total success. So much easier to focus with known increments and being able to return to a known point. Dave, I am in your debt. Thank you very much for your hard work. The following is mostly last nights efforts:

I should have put it together earlier but with the spell of good weather I didn't want to upset the optical train, image alignment, flats etc. A change of target tonight was the the perfect opportunity.

I neglected the attach file button.

All ready for the first "wet" run. Fingers crossed that the clouds clear.

Nah, you're a Yorkshireman, that sounds a little Welsh to me.

Come on people, it's a computer controlled motor focuser for sub fifty quid! Tekkydave has made the project extremely easy and it's a very rewarding result. But.... AAFMk2..... Dave.... you're going to have to think of something more catchy

Indeed, It's no biggy. At the end of a session you'd only need to throw it slightly out of focus in a back position an you're ready to go next time.

Dave, I asked Ivo about it and he got back with the following if it helps, I've posted a link to your project on the APT forum: Thanks Matt! I have checked the ASCOM standard's documentation and it is not designed for negative values. There is MaxPosition but there is no MinPosition because it is expected 0 to be the lower limit. With two friends are finishing our own device project and have some experience In the best case the controller should provide two features - position storage and park/unpark feature... Could you give a link to the project? The main concern is that APT talks with different devices and any exceptions should be made carefully in order to continue working with the majority...

Am I doing something stupid with APT? Unlike your UI it will not work in a negative position, so it will only move forwards from position 0 and back again.

Another one here! Many thanks Dave! The focuser can also be controlled through the APT interface so it should be compatible with the upcoming automatic focus in APT 2.60

Dave, Just to let you know your update to the installer appears to have fixed my Windows 8.1 driver registration. I still had to do the registration manually but all is up and running. I just need to pull my finger out and fit it to the telescope now, no time today unfortunately. Many thanks, Matt.

Yes for both. I see you're 32 bit, could it be a 64 bit thing?

I've been having some trouble. The Arduino doesn't appear in the Ascom drop-down and I get an error message when trying to register the driver. Screenshot attached. Windows 8.1. It's probably something stupid I'm doing, if anyone could point me in the right direction it would be appreciated.

Just a quick heads up. The next release of APT will include auto-focus for stepper motor Ascom focusers.

Bah! My Arduino has not been delivered yet, no fun for me this weekend.

Only 5lb,thats's my choice of tool for precision work.

I'll keep you posted with my progress. It'll be an acid test of your guide but as far as I can see you've covered everything and more.

I've ordered my parts, I should hopefully have it up and running next weekend. Thanks again!