Starblast focuser upgrade

[bscheve]

Hey all, i have the orion starblast 4.5 and am looking to upgrade the focuser from the sloppy one it shipped with. What is compatible and of good quality?

[ghostdance]

These few simple steps courtesy Astro-Baby, markedly improve the original, if you've not tried them already:

http://www.astro-baby.com/Skywatcher%20Focuser%20Tune%20up/Skywatcher%20Focuser%20Tune-up.htm

And I just replaced the knobs on my 6i focuser (same as the 4.5) with some bigger ones to good effect.

[bscheve]

How did you go about replacing the knobs? Mine seem pretty solidly affixed to the spindle.

[ghostdance]

I cheated! Glued some big alloy wheels on with Gorilla Glue

The originals do come off - they're screwed in. But I couldn't get the second unscrewed so glue it was. I'd noticed that friends and family seemed to find it difficult to find the original knobs, and often bumped them, messing up focus, hence the change.... The extra width does seem to somewhat improve the fine-focus action tho....or I'm imagining it!

Edit/ getting rid of the original sticky gunk and replacing with silicon really does smooth the focuser, as Astro-Baby said. So a big thanks to her! And after changing the lube, do play with those two fixing screws: a quarter-turn or less can make a good difference in smoothness.

I'd be interested to hear what you think once you've tried this. I don't think it makes the focuser a Moonlite, but it does maximise what this cheap focuser is capable of....

[ghostdance]

The 'finished' article!

A sheep in wolf's clothing, lol