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Fitting A Moonlight Focuser to A SN10


Greg

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I've had the Moonlight on the SN10 for about 6 months but have never used it for imaging, however last night I put my DSLR on it and didn't have enough "In" Focus.

Not a problem I thought as the Moonlight comes with 4 spacers and I was using 3, just remove a spacer and away we go.

Err No...The SN10's focus hole is fractionally smaller than the Moonlight fitting plate, just enough to foul the focuser and prevent the focus barrel moving into the tube.

So this morning I dismantled the scope and attacked it with a Dremel !!

First of all I removed the Corrector plate as it's close to the focuser and could potentially get covered with swarf.

Whilst it was out on the bench I cleaned the corrector plate with Baader optical fluid and a micro fibre cloth and the secondary with a huff and a clean unused microfiber cloth.

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Once the Moonlight was removed I left the fitting plate in situ as it served as a template..

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I used a Dremel and a tapered grinding tool to carefully remove the metal from the hole leaving a near perfect finish.

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I then removed the rough inner edge with a fine file to leave a smooth finish.

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The focuser was refitted and checked.

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The inside of the OTA was wiped to remove any swarf or dust and the cleaned corrector plate refitted...

At this stage I was temped to cut 4 inches off the end of the OTA to make it an F2 :):D

Only kidding.. :lol:

Once re-assembled the scope was checked and collimated.

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oooh a gold one - very nice :)

I had a similar problem fitting my Moonlite to my Skywatcher 12" but not with the focuser hole - that hole was way oversized.

Mine was the fitting of the baseplate itself - the appropriate screw holes for the mounting plate (there are a few sets of 4 for different 'scopes) didn't quite line up with the holes in the tube and I had to use a small round file to elongate the tube holes to get alignment. Needless to say, I'd stripped the tube bare to prevent metal filings getting anywhere near the optics.

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A job well done Greg, But does the DSLR come to focus ?

In theory yes as it was about quarter turn which means about 5mm of focus travel..the plate I removed was 20mm..

However..I'll try tonight if the skys allow..

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