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Moonlite Focuser woes. Wisdom required.

Telescope40

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Telescope40

Telescope40

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Hi All. Recent 2nd hand purchase of a refractor fitted with a lovely MoonLite Model CFL 2.5 in Refractor Focuser. Its in red and has eight "allen bolts, set against the rollers.

See website www.focusser.com - for Moonlites website.

Having some issues with the running of the drawtube.

Initailling thinking I may have overrun the maximum distance the drawtube "racks out" ? OOPS

Symptom is with scope pointing up, which is the default setting, lol, after racking the tube approx half an inch out, where the "flat" base of the drawtube starts to show, there is an audible click. I keep racking out the drawtube and as more tube shows, another audible click sounds. Maybe about 4 in of drawtube now showing.

At this point i attempt to rack back the drawtube and it refuses to rack in. A manual push helps things get back on track somewhat. However back at the point of the "first" click, things go pear shaped again and the racking in stops again.

I have played with the tensioner knob under the focuser and also, very gingerly adjusted the two hex tensioner screws, each side of the tension knob. I have attempted to clean the rollers with some cotton buds, ala Astro Baby's suggestions.

I am now at a loss and dont want to mess about any further and make things even worse.

Any wise words guys. All suggestions gratefully recieved. regards John

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John

John

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One thing worth checking is to make sure none of the bearings have cracked. I had that "click" sound with my older CR2 Moonlite and I found that one of the bearings that the drawtube rolls against had a crack / split across the casing. Moonlite were helpful and sent be a new set of bearings plus some spare set screws for a few dollars. My unit was around 10 years old so way out of warranty !

With the bearing replaced it's as smooth as silk.

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John

John

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Thanks for this line of thort guys. Just had another closer look. Can see faint track marks on the focuser x2 where the rollers run along the drawtube. :-((

That in itself may not be an issue - all the crayfords I've owned showed those two track marks on the upper surface of the drawtube after some use. The key thing is that all the bearings are rotating smoothly as the drawtube racks in and out. A cracked one sticks in one place and does not rotate. More than one cracked one and the whole movement could be affected, as it sounds yours is. You really need to get the drawtube out and then carefully examine all the bearings for damage / sticking.

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Telescope40

Telescope40

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Hi John. Is there a "How to" guide at all, re removing the drawtube from a Moonlite. I'm hesitant in case I make things worse. LOL

I have removed it from my scope and can see all the allen bolts but where do i start.

John

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Moonshane

Moonshane

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I am sure Moonlite can help but I'd gladly take a look if you want me to John. I am off work for the next two weeks so just send me a PM. Crayfords are pretty simple affairs and you cannot do much harm - none that cannot be adjusted back out again anyway.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Telescope40

Telescope40

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Update. New bearings recieved from Ron at Moonlite. Fitted and running like a guddun ! No clicking or derawtube issues.

Big thanks to Shane ( Moonshane ). Met up a couple of weeks back and we, i mean Shane, had a good look at the focusers, on both my scopes.

Gave me a nice insight into collimation into the bargain.

John

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