Problem with Secondary mirror when Collimating.

[Darren1983]

Hi guys.

I bought myself a next gen laser collimator the other day,must admit great little device,but the problem im having is when i use the supplied allen key plus others from a set i have, i just can't get the secondary mirror to move at all,i can't get the laser dot inside the circle on the primary for love no money,am i doing something wrong?

The only way i can seem to get it near the centre of the primary is if i loosen the spider vines. I have Skywatcher explorer Newtonian 200p.

Thanks.

[Tinker1947]

The first time of trying to undo the screws on mine i thought the allen key would break, they really need a bit of grunt to undo....

[Darren1983]

which screws are you talking about mate? all i have on my secondary mirror is 3 holes for the allen key and a screw which i can't unscrew for some reason,i feel as if the spider vines are going to snap if i unscrew it? and i bet i need to loosen that don't i? to get the 3 holes to be able to work with the allen key?.

[Jiggy 67]

I'm not quite sure why you're having a problem, not clear which screws you are referring to but take a look at this and it may answer your question

[knobby]

which screws are you talking about mate? all i have on my secondary mirror is 3 holes for the allen key and a screw which i can't unscrew for some reason,i feel as if the spider vines are going to snap if i unscrew it? and i bet i need to loosen that don't i? to get the 3 holes to be able to work with the allen key?.

Pretty sure you have to loosen the middle screw a bit to allow the grub screws to move.

check that your laser collimater is actually firing straight before you do anything tho!

Check the dot on mirror, then rotate the collimator 180 degrees and see If the dot is still in the same place.

They're normally pants

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[Darren1983]

Well after hour of messing about with it,i finally thought i had it sussed,took the scope outside ,got focus on mars,so i thought right lets try this barlow lens out witch i just can't get to work,so i tried to collimator it on a star and i think ive just made it worse,thing just aren't tight like they use to be,the laser collimator is just rubbish in my opinion.

i lined it up perfect adjust both mirrors ,took the laser out then put it back in and it was back o square one again,the laser was pointing outside the centre primary mirror as if i had not done anything. Now im clueless,personally think im out of my depth all because the supplied barlow lens wouldn't focus ,now i don't know what to do and think i have just messed my telescope up.

Is there anywhere i can take it so someone can do it for me? or better still does anyone live in the Birmingham area that's savy with this kind of thing?

im stressed big time.

[Tinker1947]

The middle screw is used to adjust the in and out movement of the mirror to line it up with the Focus tube, the 3 allen screws are used to line up with the primary mirror....so Darren if your a bit lost, start from scratch run the you-tube video and it will sink in.....

[knobby]

Don't give up mate ... we've all been there.

Check you tube for Info on checking the laser collimation and astrobabys guides are good.

It really is important to have the laser collimated before you do anything else.

You could try barlowed laser maybe... that's on you tube too.

Have a good read up and try again.

Good luck

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[umadog]

Barlowed laser for primary tilt adjustment. Un-barlowed laser for secondary tilt adjustment. Make sure before you start that the laser itself is collimated. Insert it into the focuser, note the location of the beam on the primary, rotate the laser in the focuser. The beam location should stay still. If it doesn't then your beam isn't parallel with the axis of the focuser tube and you can't use it to align the optics. You will first need to collimate the laser.

[knobby]

Hi guys.

I bought myself a next gen laser collimator the other day,must admit great little device,but the problem im having is when i use the supplied allen key plus others from a set i have, i just can't get the secondary mirror to move at all,i can't get the laser dot inside the circle on the primary for love no money,am i doing something wrong?

The only way i can seem to get it near the centre of the primary is if i loosen the spider vines. I have Skywatcher explorer Newtonian 200p.

Thanks.

How you getting on Darren?

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[knobby]

Do you think he's broken it?

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