Jamgood

That was the bit that confused me the most. I had read that fast scopes have an offset but didn't really know what that mean't (lots of pictures show lots of things) and as mine from the factory was so far out, I thought that was the offset and along I went merrily confused. It'll be interesting to see what it looks like through the Cheshire when that arrives. If nothing else, I feel more comfortable adjusting things now and have more of an understanding of how it all works. You explained it better than any guide I read or video I watched. They basically say "get a laser and you're done". I did and I was! Haha. Thank you for your time and patience Pixies. I'll be eternally grateful and hopefully, someone else along the way will find this thread and learn something, as I did. Can't test the scope tonight as it's cloudy but I'll update when I can and when the Cheshire arrives. Now......Guinness. Cheers!

Right I get it now. The doughnut needs to be in the centre, not the bigger black circle, which is the shadow of the secondary. I seriously just had a "Duh" moment! I've been trying to align all the circles in the centre. I did say at the beginning I needed help.

I thought the all had to be concentric circles? Equally distance etc.

I think I've progressively made it worse tonight. Right now my brain, my eyes and my back aches. Time to quit for today. If I carry on tonight the thing will probably end up in the bin! I actually believe me and 130PDS are never destined to get along. First one I ordered never made it as it was damaged in store. Second came to and was damaged and this one. ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!! I should've just bought a lens for my camera.

Ok thanks, that makes sense. That other image is confusing to me. (Too many circles) I'll give that a go in a short while and post results.

This is where I'm very confused about what I'm looking at. The image above, I assume is looking through the focuser? So I need to move the image of my primary to the left? and round off that flat edge?

Here's a shot with the paper removed. I've left the yellow in as it makes it easier for me to see. I haven't tightened the screw. I did a little turn earlier to bring the mirror up a bit but I loosened the 3 adjusters first. Nothing is tight, just finger tight. A little pinch. I can see the flat edge. Is that a defect in the mirror or due to the rotation? It's hard to see in there. How it was set before, you could see that flat edge in a zoomed out star. I don't know if it will alter the image in any way. I'm planning on using this scope mainly for photography, so I'm guessing I need to get it as bang on as possible. I'm close in the image below. Just needs some fine tuning, to my eye anyway.

I think this is probably about as close as I can get it without tightening the centre screw a bit and bring the primary forward a touch. The problem there being, everytime I touch that screw, the mirrow rotates and I have to start from scratch getting a good circle. Is this looking OK?

Thank you. I'll have a good read of that.

You are right. It's not spot on yet but with some gentle tinkering, hopefully, I should be able to get it bang on. I have a Cheshire arriving from FLO tomorrow so that will help. Should have bough a collimation cap as well really. Here's a star focus test from last night. I was decent enough for viewing. I'll have another go at it later and report back. Thanks again for your help yesterday. Made everything nice and clear. 😀

Brilliant. Thank you. I shall give that a go and report back. Thank you for all your help. Very clear and straight forward. 😀

Ok, I think this is right. Hopefully.

Gotcha. This bit I've read about a lot. More confidence here. I'll make you a thank you card in that colour scheme. 👍

I don't have a cheshire yet. It's in the post.

Extremely close now. I'll stop until you tell me what to do next.

Nearly there......

The secondary mirror is starting to turn as I turn the screw now. I'm trying to correct it.

The 3 adjusters are all roughly the same depth. (Using a finger/thumb pinch allen key depth test. Getting closer.

Yeah that worked. Gave it a small turn and it's definitely moved. Repeat?

Yeah. Lefty Loosey. It doesn't feel like it wants to budge.

I have blue and yellow card in the tube. The screw on the secondary is really tight? Feels like it will bend everything.

I have tweaked it a bit since the last photo and currently have it like this.

Hi Pixies. Thank you for your reply. I did indeed mean collimation cap, not cheshire. It's just a simple piece of cardboard to sit on the eyepiece hole. Nothing fancy. I believe it is as central as I could get it. I measured twice and cut once. I didn't want to go drilling a hole in the eyepiece cover just in case I'm sending this back. Here's the edited image you asked for and the original.

Hi Guys & Gals. I seriously need some help. I got my second 130PDS a couple of weeks ago (first one came damaged, not sure of this one!) and the weather being what it is in the UK, haven't had much of a play with it. Having read loads of different info in on collimation, I'm now at the point where I'm more confused than when I started. In my amateur knowledge, I mistakenly used a laser collimator until I realised that that was drawing circles when I tried to collimate it. That is impossible to to get a centre beam and has quickly become an expensive toy for the cats. So today I made a simple collimation cap, (edited) (I've ordered a proper one today) just to have a look at what is going on in there and this is what I see. (see attached photo) Does this look anything near right? Every photo I see shows the secondary in the centre of the focuser and the primary filling the secondary. Mine how looks nothing like what I can see anywhere, hence my confusion. Last night I did a start focus test (See second photo) and the result was just plain strange and wonky. Nothing like I have seen or expected. Can someone please give me a bit of advice on where to go from here. Thanks in advance J Edit. Forgot to add. As things currently stand, I can get a pretty decent star in the centre of the image but all the other look like arrows pointing to the centre.

Finally joined the club. Excited to get started.