To: 
Reply-To: "Scott Berfield" 


I have decided to take a break on the mirror -- I figure a rest from it
will let me approach it with a fresh (i.e. less frustrated) point of view.

So instead I am starting on the rest of the scope. I am fabricating my own
Carbon tube/truss, and am deciding between building my own spider/diagonal
mount or going with Protostar.

I have been looking into focusers and while I would love to make my own, I
really want precision and repeatability along with an option for computer
driven auto-focus for CCD work. In poking around the Web I pretty much
narrowed it down to the JMI NGF-DX1, the Optec TCF-S, or one of the Van
Slyke units. I am leaning toward JMI based on price, short height (the
focuser, not me) and the fact that I have used their stuff before - it is
also possible to upgrade it to auto-focus capabilities later on.. The Optec
is tempting since it comes with the motor, temp compensation and controller
all for one price - though they do nickel and dime you for the accessories
and the unit seems to be a bit on the tall side. I know little about the
Van Slyke units other than that they look impressive, but seem expensive
and very large.

I figure most of you probably whittle your focusers out of blocks of steel
by hand, but do any of you have experience/opinions on these focusers? Am I
missing any that I should be considering?

-sb

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