Collimation problems

[Steve Wright]

I am not confident that I have managed to achieve accurate collimation of my Newtonian, the reason being that when the laser collimator is inserted into the focuser there is quite a bit of movement which caused the returning beam to change its position.

I am wondering if I purchased a better quality focuser as the one fitted on the scope seems to be a rack and pinion type then this may eliminate this issue and thus result in accurate collimation? Which raises another question of do I have to be careful that any replacement focuser I purchase has the correct amount of travel to achieve perfect focus.

Any help and advise on the subject would be appreciated.

Thanks

[NGC 1502]

Hi, this could be a useful read How-to Collimate a Laser Collimator - How To

because if the laser is not collimated, then neither will your scope be.

If you replace the focuser, then it will need to put the eyepiece in approx the

original position, but of course the focuser itself will do that accurately.

Regards, Ed.

[RogerTheDodger]

Steve, I've just recently been down this route and as long as a star test looks ok, it probably is ok... having tested it afterwards several times I think I'm analysing too much and not just enjoying enough... the results seem to be ok though