New Focuser!
I just picked up a lovely JMI EV3N Focuser from OPT for my Celestron Omni 150 Newt. Much nicer than the stock unit. Had to do a bit of modification to get it to fit. Since the new focuser was a 2″ design and the old one was for 1.25″ eyepieces, I had to enlarge the hole using a dremel. To do this I carefully removed the primary mirror, spider vanes + secondary mirror and of course the old focuser.
I then positioned the focuser base and marked what had to be cut out.
Cut the hole out and fixed some self adhesive foam strips I had leftover from a car stereo installation. The foam strips are used for insulation as the focuser doesn’t sit perfectly flush against the curvature of the optical tube.
Installed the base:
And followed with the rest of the focuser assembly:
Looks (and works) much better. No more ugly synta focuser, no more drawtube sagging under the weight of the camera, and (most importantly) no more image shift during focusing. That really messes with your collimation.
Tags: celestron, ev3n, jmi, omnixlt150