From the day I acquired the SolarMax 60 telescope, I knew I wanted a Feather Touch focuser on it. I had used these focusers numerous times before and was always impressed with the overall construction as well as the 10:1 reduction knob for fine focusing. With the approcah of the monsoon and a work schedule that would severely limit my solar observing anyway, I handed the scope over to Dean Koenig at Starizona and told him to do what he does best. A week later, measurements had been taken, designs drawn and the adapter plate to attach the focuser to the scope was finished.

The adapter is the black ring with the small step down in diameter. Attached to that via three lockscrews is the focuser itself. The black knobs are the regular focus, the smaller gold knob is the 10:1 reduction for fine focus adjustments. The blocking filter/diagonal was removed from the old focuser and rides in a 2" to 1.25" adapter. The portion can be easily rotated to place the eyepiece where it is easier to look through, much like the stock focuser with the telescope.

At the advisement of the fine folks at Coronado, I was told that better results and a narrower bandpass can be achieved with an external double stack as opposed to the internal option. I wanted them to take their time to get the best possible match. Two weeks later, the scope arrived and here it is at its second, first light on the morning of July 25th. As promised, it's better than I could have imagined. I threaded the second etalon on and was totally blown away by the view in the eyepiece. Hot and sticky, pretty typical for a July mid-morning in Tucson, but totally worth it.

Gratutious plug alert. Dean has the drawings for the adapter plate. If you want what I think is the sweetest focuser you could ever hope to use, get a hold of him and I'm sure he can get one of these for you too! You can get a hold of him via the Starizona website .