I'm trying to avoid shelling out big bucks for a Feathertouch focuser. But I can see that that may be in my future.
I thought I had my
GSO LF dialed in and working fine. Just crank the tension up to max and it was working well. Or so I thought. Last night, it wouldn't autofocus to save its life.
I am making progress on diagnosing its problem. It looks like it objects to operating upside down. Pointing east of the
meridian, it is right-side-up; pointing west, it is upside-down. All my problems seem to be on the west side. Last night, even with the tension cranked up, it lost traction. It still moved, but the movement was not linear with respect to motor steps. (See screen shot below. That fourth run is way too far over!) And, in the parked position, with the focuser hanging downward, I noticed some flex in the up/down direction. That could explain the loss of traction.
It looks like, once the weather warms up enough to work out there, I'll have a tune-up to do. Meanwhile, I'll have to stick to the east side of the sky, so I can't finish this year's M42.
DSO AP: Orion 200mm f/4 Newtonian Astrograph; ATIK 383L+; EFW2 filter wheel; Astrodon Ha,Oiii,LRGB filters; KWIQ/QHY5 guide scope;
Planetary AP: Celestron C-11; ZWO ASI120MC;
Portable: Celestron C-8 on HEQ5 pro; C-90 on wedge; 20x80 binos;
Etc: Canon 350D; Various EPs, etc.
Obs: 8' Exploradome; iOptron CEM60 (pier);
Helena Observatory (H2O) Astrobin