TS Monorail Dual Speed Crayford Focuser

[johninderby]

TS Monorail Dual Speed Crayford Focuser

I was looking for a dual speed focuser to replace the single speed GSO crayford on a new refractor and decided to give the new TS Monorail crayford a try. The specs showed that it has nearly twice the load capacity of the GSO crayford and a number of other improvements, but was only another £30.00 or so. This is Telescope Service's own branded version of the new GSO Linear crayford.

The fit and finish are very nice and seem to be a step up from the old GSO focuser. The linear part of the focuser refers to the drawtube guide system which consists of about 50 small ball bearings running on a stainless steel track fastened to the bottom of the drawtube. As the drawtube is held in place with a bearing assembly nearly 2" long flexing of the drawtube is virtually eliminated. I compared it to a GSO and a new SkyWatcher and found that while the Monorail drawtube just didn't flex at all when trying to twist the drawtube by hand, the old type GSO flexed a good 5mm or so and the SkyWatcher also flexed a few mm.

The focuser was very smooth and felt very precise. The heaviest eyepieces are no problem as the focuser can handle a 4kg load. I had read some reviews on a Dutch forum (thank goodness for Google translator!) where someone had been using the Newtonian version for astrophotography and had praised the focuser's ability to handle a heavy camera. The only negative is that the drawtube has only 50mm of travel so you might need an extender tube for extra back-focus, although I didn't. It doesn't come with a lock knob for the rotating function so I replaced one of the grub screws with a knob that I already had. The drawtube locking screw has been moved to the top of the focuser and is nice large diameter one.

So is it worth the extra £30.00 ,definitely, as I'd now rate it as better than the SkyWatcher crayford or the the WO 2" crayford. Also it's available with the either the 96mm or the 86mm adaptor so it will fit the Celestron C80-ED with the addition of the Agena adaptor.

John

P.S.

Astro-Professional TMB 80mm f/1.25 refarctor with TS Monorail crayford focuser and Hershel wedge for white light solar observing.

[argonaut]

Good review John.

I was looking at this focser for another project I'm working on. I will have to give it serious thought.Did I miss the amount of travel?

Glen.

EDIT: Yes,50mm travel is not a lot for sure.