On Sat, 28 Feb 2004 05:16:41 GMT, "Lawrence Sayre"
wrote:

...the Speers-Waler WA's ...They all need a lot of in-travel of the focuser. Roughly
3/4" more in-travel is needed than I have available. My choices as I see
them now are to cut off about an inch from each truss tube, or to buy a
focuser with more travel. Any suggestions?

Lawrence,

A dealer for these just told me the 14mm WA requires approx. 3/8"
additional in-travel compared to an "average" eyepiece. That of
course a ballpark measure but seems less than the older SW's.

Since the SW main housing is just under 2" dia., why not wrap the
lower section with tape and plug it in your 2" drawtube to study the
sky view? That way you could determine exact in-travel required and
how you liked it before altering your scope. We also happily get to
know your impressions soon on performance at f/5.2 in a Newtonian.

If a keeper, consider designing and having made a thin wall 2" low
profile sleeve that mates to the lower part of main eyepiece body.
This to acheive focus.

Long ago I had a pair of the 12mm 80° SW's and they were superb except
for fine sharpness. That discrepancy likely due to the highly
extended lens layout and so many air-glass interfaces. The new line
being shorter bodied might just be the cream in the ultra-wide cup of
coffee.

Pete