Knighty2112

11 hours ago, Dave In Vermont said:

I use the GSO 10:1 dual-speed Crayford. These are about the same animal. And the focusing is excellent indeed. Night & day difference from the single-speed variety. You'll be a happy camper.

Upgrade away -

Dave

Thanks Dave. Just got to save up the money now!

2 minutes ago, John said:

I've recently owned one of the Skywatcher refractor crayford focusers as well and it was a pretty good focuser. I used it on a 150mm F/8 Skywatcher. The only thing you need to bear in mind is that it does not come with an integral finder shoe like the stock focuser has.

Thanks John. I know I'll need to do a little DIY to my scope to refit the finder scope. Just need to have a steady hand when I drill some holes to fit a new synta shoe.  

5 minutes ago, DRT said:

I have owned one of those SW Dual-speed focusers and must say they are one of the best value upgrades I have encountered. Very solidly built and a massive step up in quality from the standard focuser. The action is extremely smooth and the weight of the unit really helps with the overall balance of the scope. You will not need an adapter. The upgrade can be completed in about 2 minutes

Thanks for the feedback. Cheers!  

3 minutes ago, faulksy said:

it sounds like its slipping from what you say, before buying new have you thought about adjusting it, or locking it with the brake ?

No, it stays in focus OK once focus is achieved. I did tighten the rack up a little when I fitted the focuser motor, and I lock of the focus when I do achieve it too. I just find it a little tricky to get sharp focus well without having to jab the buttons on the focuser a few times. 

Hi all, for my next upgrade on my Skywatcher Startravel 120mm refractor I'm thinking of upgrading the focuser to a dual speed 2" Crayford focuser http://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-focusers/sky-watcher-dual-speed-2-crayford-focuser-for-sky-watcher-refractors.html

A couple of questions though before I possibly fork out for one in the next month or so;

1) Does it need any other adapter ring or anything to fit OK into the existing place where the stock focuser sits on the ST120? It is just a straight swap right?

2) Does the two speed focuser action significantly improve the action to get a sharper focus much better and easier?

I currently have a Skywatcher Auto focuser fitted to the stock focuser on the scope, but find the constant small jabs back and forth you have to do on the keypad a little annoying to get good focus, and hope the finer focusing option on the Crayford focuser might be easier to achieve by hand again if fitted to the scope.

Regards,

Gus

I got the Skywatcher 6 X 30 right angled finderscope for my new ST120 refractor scope, and for just over £31 was very surprised at how good the stars looked through it ( i.e normal), and could easily make out M31 with it too in my light polluted, street lamp infested back garden. Only thing I made a mistake with was I ordered the wrong one up by mistake. I got the east is west, west is east version, and not the correctly orientated view. But I can live with that quite easily. Dead easy to calibrate it to the scope to with one spring loaded screw, so you only have to twiddle two screws to achieve correct alignment.

Most likely an incorrectly set secondary mirror. I have the same scope, and tried to set my secondary mirror as suggested in Norton and other astronomy books, and also from articles and videos on the Internet. After getting my secondary mirror as close as central in my viewfinder as I possibly could, I then found that my scope would no longer focus correctly. Distant objects were not able to achieve correct focus. I quickly put my secondary mirror back in the position it was originally (as best as I could remember) and all was well again.