ASCOM driver for Stepper Bee

[ndastgir]

I have recently bought a Stepper Bee board and stepper motor to build a computer controlled autofocuser.

The stepper bee software works like a trean on a PC and the clumsy assembly that I made to connect the stepper motor to the focuser also works fine.

Then I started thinking it would be nice if I could find an ASCOM driver that could control the Stepper Bee. that way I could perform automatic focusing.

Before I start to develop the code myself I did some search on the internet but could not find anyone who has successfully developed such code. I found a thread about dome control with stepper bee & ASCOM however, and I am thinking perhaps the codes could be similar.

Does anyone knows of any code / plug-in that has already been develped?

Is anyone using Stepper Bee for autofocusing? I can really use some advise.

Thanks,

Naeim

[hutchyweb]

I like what your doing, I am building a feature packed focus controller to work with my SkyWatcher motor but I am having issues getting the ASCOM templates to work in Visual Studio. I'll let you know when I get it working it might help you on your quest.

[ndastgir]

That would be excellent. Apparently two German guys have developed  an ASCOM focus controller for stepper bee and seems like the code will be available soon on the ASCOM download website.

[perfrej]

Actually guys, the learning curve for writing ASCOM drivers is not that steep. I have about ten on my conscience at this point and find it a breeze. The templates are excellent and the code you have to write is not that complicated. I just checked the quick specs for the bee and think that it is really easy to write an ASCOM driver as there is a DLL which handles the interfacing with USB for you.

An ASCOM focuser driver needs just a few commands implemented and with the DLL behind the actual logic I would say it is good practice project.

/per

[james_screech]

The code is simple, I wrote a Stepper Bee ASCOM focuser about a year ago for a project I was thinking about. Unfortunately I abandoned the project when I upgraded my scope and like an idiot I deleted the code!

[hutchyweb]

I was pointed in the right direction and it was a simple check box in VS2013 under properties / compile / Register for COM interop. My driver is well under way now