Skywatcher telescope focuser

thingiverse

This is an exciting little project I'm working on - adding remote focus capability to my stock focuser. My trusty 80mm Skywatcher refractor will soon benefit from this upgrade. To bring it all together, I printed the remote focus mechanism in PLA at a layer height of 0.2mm using Slic3r with 20% infill. The nice thing about this setup is that it can function without a motor or gears, thanks to parts 2 and 3. This means I can leave it attached to the metal bracket at all times and only add the other components when needed. The stepper motor will be a standard Nema-17 with 200 turns per revolution - no support needed whatsoever. As you can see in the pictures, I've already put it through its paces. Next up are the Gears, which have a sum of pitch diameters of 68mm, translating to a distance of 34 mm between the two axes. Stay tuned for more updates! Update1: The Gears (8 and 26 teeth) are now complete - next stop is the motor! I've already tested it in manual mode, and it's working great. Update2: I've modified the big gear to include a stronger joint, giving me extra peace of mind.