Seben collimator?

[Dom1961]

Ive heard that seben  is bad for eyepieces, is it the same case for their laser collimators? Im looking for a cheap one

[triton1]

Looking at pictures of the seben collimators they look pretty much the same as other brands as in skywatcher which I,ve seen for sale at £44.I paid £21 for mine which was unbranded but looked the same.Whatever you do though don,t trust them to be accurate out of the box they as well need to be collimated.You can check this by putting it in your ep holder and rotating it slowly,if the red dot moves in a circular fashion then you will have to collimate the collimator.there are three bungs that have to be dug out to reveal three Allen screws which have to be adjusted so when the collimator is rotated in ep holder the red dot stays stationary then your good to go.Hope this helps

Jonn

[Owmuchonomy]

The Seben collimator I inherited was not blessed with the ability to collimate the laser hence next to useless in my mind.

[Dom1961]

Was yours this one? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seben-Laser-Collimator-telescopes-31-7mm/dp/B006FGYWM0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427729849&sr=8-1&keywords=laser+collimator

[triton1]

This is the one I bought less all the stickers on it,they covered up the Allen screws.I also put one layer of masking tape around the end to minimise slop.

[Gazabone]

This is the one I bought less all the stickers on it,they covered up the Allen screws.I also put one layer of masking tape around the end to minimise slop.

I think it's the same as mine, I just removed the covers over the Allen bolts and hey presto, you can collimate it!

[triton1]

I think I remember where I bought it from,eBay Astrobits they are still there at bottom of page type in astrobits also sell TMB planeterys probably clone eps (but some say ..............nearly as good as bst starguiders)sorry good not resist clarkson esq at a very reasonable price £34 ?

[Uranium235]

I had one that came with my 130pds, honest opinion....... worst laser ever! When compared with my cheshire and Antares laser it was way out.... and so its now collecting dust at the bottom of my bits box.

[triton1]

Nice one Gazabone it,s amazing wot stickers hide!

[triton1]

Uranium235 it is worth checking because if set up right it is so much quicker plus you can do it at night in one minute.I collimated mine from three metres away using a v block held in a work bench sitting down comfortably,once targerted at that distance even more accurate once in scope.Important you must be comfortable because only minute turns of any one screw at a time can take sometime.

[kirkster501]

The Seben collimator I inherited was not blessed with the ability to collimate the laser hence next to useless in my mind.

+1

Useless.  The laser was not collimated itself meaning i was putting errors into my telescope!  When I did collimate it in a rotating jig, the slightest tap and it was out again.  Useless.

[triton1]

Oh no not another collimator debate

[triton1]

I will agree though to have something mint out of the box would be godsend even to pay a few extra £ for!But when your on a budget and too keep missus happy needs must

[knobby]

I love a good laser battle ... If you get a good one they're OK for getting close to collimation which can be tweaked with a slightly out of focus star ... Put it in and look at the dot on the primary ... Rotate 180 degrees and if its still close to where it started you might have a good one .

Or Barlow it [emoji3]

[triton1]

Knobby I totally agree always check that defocused star is perfect way to do it but I need longer arms and then have to check laser is collimated again,I,m going to lose this one methinks