iwannawon

many thanks to both of you. i appreciate the replies and the additional files. i'll definitely be going through them carefully.

hi. that part was from page 1 on this thread, davies07 reply on march 30 that has a couple pictures of the primary mirror (without ota attached).

just to doublechek... is there a way to align it without fully taking out the secondary mirror? i tried by taking off the whole front secondary holder unit and making a similar template with a hole in it (that you showed on the focuser end) that i attached to the ota. would this be the same as aligning with the secondary's center screw hole? also when testing the primary mirror alignment by removing the ota and pointing at a wall, how critical is it that the mirror is exactly parallel to the wall? for the reflection to be centered. if i'm a bit (ie 1/32") off and don't know it, will it skew the results?

thank you david. that's a wonderful image. i'm looking forward to taking the same someday. i haven't had a chance to try the alternate methods to collimate yet but it's next on my list. i've been a bit hesitant because i'm afraid i won't get it back to where it is and it will even be worse. but i guess it's needed. i'll definitely reread the thread and try again. what confuses me about the outer ring is it doesn't change when i rotate the laser. if it was the beam thickness, i think it would? i see slight differences in thickness in inner rings too and i rotate the collimator to see if it's really misaligned or if it looks better (on average) if i rotate it. but that doesn't seem to affect my outer ring that i labelled.

sorry for bumping this. but it hasn't been inactive very long. i didn't get any replies on my post so hoping this will at least get some eyes that have some rc experience based on this thread. can someone please tell me if the outer diffuse ring needs to also be centered around the ota shadow (i think that's what it is?)? mine is thinner on the top but nothing i do changes it. changes only affect the inner secondary shadow and inner rings. see attached. as i focus out, the outer ring breaks at the top first and fades down until it's gone when the focuser is all the way out. if everything within is even and concentric is that ok or does it mean something else is out of alignment to start? ie primary mirror in ota? (not tilted but rather shifted up or down?) sorry. this outer ring is the only other thing i see that might point to something still out of alignment. my focused stars are still off but narrow beam tests and other tests seem to show everything is aligned, except this outer ring. i'll also be looking into the alternative methods posted in this thread too. i need more time processing them but am hoping to find out if my image result is relevant or if it can be ignored as i proceed. thanks.

i'm struggling getting my at6rc collimated (based on stars in images). i've seen several threads and youtube videos and think i'm following correctly. narrow laser attachment shows everything aligned. i have one main question now. see attached pic. everything within the outer ring is even and concentric. (hard to see but there are concentric circles printed on the target) the outermost ring isn't symmetrical though. the top is thinner. but nothing i change affects it. as i focus out the top 'breaks' first and eventually the whole ring is gone. and only the brighter rings in the middle remain. changing the focuser ring, the primary, or the secondary changes those inner brighter rings but nothing seems to affect that outermost dimmer ring. what is that light from and what is it showing as out of alignment? if relevant, how can i fix it so the whole thing is centered within that outer ring? it's the only thing i see that seems like it could be causing my star issues. many thanks.