Second upgrade for my Coulter - Focuser

I still have the spider to upgrade on my Coulter, but a more urgent needs was to upgrade the focuser. The original focuser was a fairly straightforward rack and pinion 1.25" focuser which worked well, but was limiting in that I couldn't get my dSLR (Canon 30D) to focus. The Canon needed about 2 or 3" more inward travel. I decided to go for a low-cost 2" low-profile focuser. The ones I found on the popular telescope stores were kind of pricey at around $160. This Orion one looked good, but was out of my price range.

I was fortunate in finding the same focuser from Astromart.com. It was only $100 used. It didn't have the exact same coloring as the Orion focuser, but it functioned and looked identical.

The focuser allowed me to achieve enough in-focus to use my dSLR! I was very happy.

What is even more spectular is that with my dSLR and the scope combination giving me 2,400 mm, the moon fills up the frame of the dSLR almost perfectly. This is a full-frame (1.6x crop factor) shot of the moon.

Next up: the drive system!

Ambrose