A Tale of Two Focusers (or, "Moonlite Becomes Her")

[A McEwan]

Hi all.

I few weeks ago I announced that a new Moonlite CR2 focuser had arrived for my Equinox ED120. And then I went quiet. I didn't want to make comments about the new focuser because of a technical difficulty. Upon inspection of the focuser, there was a little something that I wasn't quite 100% satisfied with, so I withheld comment until the Importing Dealer and Moonlite themselves had had time to comment and/or correct the 'little something' that was irking me.

This was all originally done to replace the standard Equinox focuser that I had a couple of considerable issues with. Yes, I really am quite hard to please!

Anyway, some emails were exchanged and I have to say that I don't think I've ever had better service than that offered by Ron at Moonlite and by Steve at FLO. Ron's immediate response when I contacted him and described the 'little problem' showed that he knew exactly what I was talking about, what might have caused the problem, and how to fix it. He said he would send me a replacement and for me just to return the original one, no cost to me.

I was soon informed that Ron had personally selected a new focuser, inspected it, and packed it for me himself. It arrived today.

Absolute Perfection. It's beautiful to look at, superbly made, perfectly smooth in operation - a joy to behold, and I'm sure, to use.

I've attached it now and am in seventh Heaven. THIS is the focuser that my Equinox was crying out for. I can't wait to try it out, but of course I will have to...

Anyway, here are some initial pics of the thing, attached and ready to use:

[GazOC]

It certainly looks the business mate.

[Astro_Baby]

That really looks the business - very slick.

I have a Moonlite on the newt and its fab. Glad its all sorted out whatever was wrong first time round.

[A McEwan]

Thanks - it certainly feels wonderful. Smooth, just the right level of resistance, consistent resistance all the way through the travel of the drawtube, everything just A1+ and Spot-On.

Nice clouds tonight...

[Astro_Baby]

Nice clouds tonight...

What did you expect

[A McEwan]

Oh I don't know, a clear cool night to enjoy the sight of Comet Lulin near Saturn, using my newly Moonlited Equinox and 16mm Nagler perhaps? Hmm. Maybe tomorrow... (Ha! Yeah, right...)

[Astro_Baby]

Really !!!! - Theres a comet up there AND you have new equipment - the chances of it being clear under those circumstances are about a million to one.

I hope you do get a clear one though.

[A McEwan]

Indeed - see here: http://www.spacegazer.com/documents/Space%20News/Comet%20Lulin.pdf

But the odds of clear skies are actually pretty much nil. You see, I'm on holiday this week, so that's the final nail in the coffin.

[John]

That looks superb !.

As someone who is considering an Equinox 120 at some point I'd be interested to know what the issues were with the original focusser - were they a one-off or were you looking for a specific standard of performance that the original focusser could not meet ?.

John

[GazOC]

I bought a Skywatcher Pro ED120 a couple of weeks ago and it really is a great scope, the star tests are spot on. The focuser is different from the one on the Equinox (non-rotatable) but its still OK IMHO (nowhere near "premium" though).

[A McEwan]

John,

the problems I experienced are written up in this thread: http://stargazerslounge.com/showthread.php?t=71331

... but I have to say, generally, from what I've read, I think other owners may have more favourable views on the standard focuser.

[John]

John,

the problems I experienced are written up in this thread: http://stargazerslounge.com/showthread.php?t=71331

... but I have to say, generally, from what I've read, I think other owners may have more favourable views on the standard focuser.

Thanks for that - I'd missed it 1st time around.

Interesting - the rotating focusser on my WO Megrez 90 worked (and rotated) very smoothly - I wonder if Skywatcher have tried to be a bit too clever by using the locking collett design ?.

Cheers,

John

[adamsp123]

Hi Antony,

That is one sexy looking piece of kit, I am glad you finally have it sorted as I remember some of the "chats" we had regarding your focuser problem when you first got your scope.

Just for the record and info for other readers considering the SW new ED pro refractors my focuser worked just fine and I believe others have found theirs OK, seems to me a early production run problem now sorted.

Pete

[A McEwan]

Thanks Pete.

The Moonlite seems like it will be the answer to 'my problems' with the original focuser. Also, it adds some weight to the back end, making it easier to balance on the mount - less nose heavy.

[TheThing]

Hate to tell you this, but the replacement looks to be faulty!

Just kidding! What a lovely bit of kit. You lucky, lucky thing you.

With current cloud though, expect to use it sometime never!

[calibos]

Ron Newman is 'The man' all right. He personally helped me spec the drawtube lenghts etc to suit my scope for my Moonlite Newtonian focuser with Rigel Motofocus. Answered all my emails within an hour or so and me being a nightowl that meant that my 4am GMT emails were being answered by him on the East Coast US at 11pm on a Sunday night!! And its not as if moonlite is a tiny company not doing much business. They are a very busy large 'small company'. How he finds the time to personally answer emails so quickly , I don't know.

Ditto when I was enquiring about and ordering some Moonlite truss clamps for use as dob wheel chuck and wheelbarrow handle clamps. He replied within hours. Now after I ordered I realised I should probably have ordered 2 more clamps than I did. I figured I could get away with the six instead of the 8 however and asked him in two emails whether the wheel chuck or wheelbarrow handles would benefit more from 2 clamps. He replied to the other questions in those emails but just seemed to refuse to answer the question about the clamps. I thought that very uncharacteristic. I understod why he didn't answer that specific question when my order arrived. He sent me an extra 2 clamps for free!! I didn't need to know where to use 1 and where to use 2 clamps. He sent me enough to use 2 everywhere!

Ron is up there with great American astroguys like Gary Myers at servocat, Howie Glatter,Ron Keating at Dewbuster etc All great guys to deal with.

[A McEwan]

That sounds very much like my experience with Ron at Moonlite too!

[Beyond_Vision]

That looks fanatstic, lets hope the clouds clear long enough to try it out.

Regards

Kevin

[Solar B]

It Doth Complete the Equinox.

Brian

[A McEwan]

Just to keep you all up to dat, I've had a test session with the new focuser!

Tried it with my heaviest eyepiece (Pentax XW30) and it was like the focuser didn't even notice it was there. The "coarse" motion is very smooth - about as good as a fine focuser might have been a few years ago. Add the "fine" focus knob, with its buttery smooth motion and ease of use and it's a dream focuser! Using high powers was great too. And, there was no problem with collimation. Simply screwing the focuser on seems to have put it on in perfect alignment (which is what the Moonlite guys say should happen if the tube itself is in good optical shape).

Finally, the rotation motion is absolutely perfect too, and when rotating he focuser I notice that the object being viewed stayed in the exact same portion of the field of view - I take it that proves the extremely high tolerances in the alignment of the various parts within the focuser.

Absolutely overjoyed - a 5" (ish) Apo with a premium grade focuser. What more is there?!

[Astro_Baby]

I got to use mine on my refelector for real a few nights ago and it was the same. Even with a big heavy EP (38mm Panaview) it was great and the fine focus is the same as yours - fantastic.

The best bit though is collimation is perfect every time now as the focuser is so much more precise.

[MjrTom]

Sorry for dragging up an old thread but this one seems perfect for my question.

Experiencing a few "issues" myself with fitting the Moonlite focuser to the Equinox 80.

Looks like the flange size is incorrect to me

Looking at your flange it looks like it is not held in with hex bolts.

can you please confirm that the flange on your moonlite is threaded to match the OTA?

The equinox OTA is externally threaded with what looks like an 84mm thread flange, the moonlite "equinox" focuser flange is smooth bore and 82mm internal diameter with three hex bolts to afix the focuser unit.

hence not fitting....

I have waited nearly a month for FLO deliver this order and now that I recieve it it looks like it is the wrong flange...

Not impressed!

[A McEwan]

Ah. the Moonlite that is fitted to mine came with a threaded flange that attaches onto the threaded OTA section. It sounds like you have the wrong flange fitted to the focuser. It should, literally, just screw on - job done...

Ant

[MjrTom]

Ah. the Moonlite that is fitted to mine came with a threaded flange that attaches onto the threaded OTA section. It sounds like you have the wrong flange fitted to the focuser. It should, literally, just screw on - job done...

Ant

Thanks Ant,

Yes that is what I thought, thanks for confirming it.

I ordered the focuser on the 1st August so that I had sufficient time to take delivery before I go on a star gazing trip to the west coast of Ireland next weekend.

After waiting a month for FLO to deliver and numerous emails saying that it would be delivered over the last two weeks you would have assumed that they would double check the flange is correct before sending it out.

[Austin]

OOchaa!!! mark! somebody is definately not a happy chappy! I hope it all gets sorted dude! nothing worse than when you are waiting for a new toy and it ends up being dodgy!