FTF3545 Stealth focuser motor mount II

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Saturday 6th: Fine dry weather but too cloudy for solar viewing. So I made the black plastic version of the motor mount. The raw material was a 10mm thick kitchen cutting board. Which is quite nice to drill, cut and sand. Believed to be HDPE but no markings.

The images show the first rough assembly. I shall have to sand the sawn edges for a smarter finish. The 29mm perforation was made with a hole saw. Working to half the depth of the plastic and then from the reverse side.

The lower half of the clamping pieces needs to be sanded off at an angle. Almost as importantly is that it must not be too long. Or the rotating collar will block the piece from entering its final position.

I hope you will agree it looks quite presentable even in the rough. I shall fine sand it on a sheet of 180 grit emery paper on a flat plate.

The O-ring is a bit hefty for this application but was the only I could find in my lifetime's collection of junk which might come in useful.

A thinner O-ring would stretch more without much loss of drive friction on the fine focus knob. It would also reduce side loads on the Feather Touch focusing mechanics.


Try to ignore the fine dust from rough sanding the plastic pieces.

Note how accessible the focus knobs remain for manual adjustment. I foresee rapid adjustment over longer movements by hand. With only the fine focusing falling to the motor to avoid touching the telescope.

I still have to make an extended pulley to drive the O-ring. The silver adapter came with the "Skywatcher" DC motor and was only used to support the O-ring for the photographs.

Had an email from UPS. It seems the custom focuser adapter is on its way. Arriving tomorrow.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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