DS-60 focuser

I have an Orion Observer 60 that has a .965 focuser and a hybrid diagonal to use 1.25" eyepieces. Now I see that Surplus Shed has a DS-60 (Meade) focuser for ~$10. They say this is a 1.25" focuser, but would it be a good swap for the Orion? I don't really have any problems with the Orion, but just wanted to get more FOV and be able to use a better diagonal.

Does anyone have any experience with this focuser?

Thanks,
Charlie

My orion Sirius 0.965" plossls are exactly the same eyepieces as the 1.25" plossls. the only difference is the screw on sleeve they put on the base to insert into a 0.965" focuser.

The 20mm eyepiece has a 17mm field stop. About the maximum width of field stop you could possible put into a 0.965" eyepiece would be 20mm dia. You would need to jump up over the 20mm eyepiece to show any gain in the fov.

My 1.25" 25mm and 26mm kellners and plossls have field stops of 22.0 to 22.3mm. So field of view for 0.965" eps max out around 22-23mm, that would be the biggest eyepiece you could fit a 20mm field stop into. By the time you make a 25mm eyepiece with a 0.965" barrel, you would need to squeeze the field stop down by 2mm to fit it into the barrel.

So you wouldn't get any gain in field of view by switching to 1.25" eyepieces unless you could go to a 25mm eyepiece. That would be pushing the magnification of that little scope pretty low, maybe too low to be of much use. Is it worth it???

edz

No personal experience (beyond just seeing a few), but I believe the drawtube itself is also plastic -- I may be wrong about that.

Not sure if that's a big deal (for $10, it may not concern you at all), but I thought I'd mention it.

Best of luck, and let us know how things go.
-Dan