Astro Engineering "colli-mate" question

[Jim-a]

I've just bought a Cheshire collimator and think that either I've got a dud - or if its not a dud then theres a bit of a design flaw in it - or if its not a design flaw, its a flaw in my understanding (quite possible) of how the thing works.

The position of the window in relation to the diagonal 'target' is such that the diagonal is not fully illuminated by light coming into the window - the result is that you get a non-circular target to work with - probably not explained very well but I've attached a couple of pics to show what I mean.

Be grateful if someone who knows more than me could let me know if the problem is me, the design, or the manufacture.

Ta v. much

[LeeB]

Hi that looks wrong, colimation could still be done with it, but it wont help you understand the process, both my cheshires are fully square. the illumination of the cross hairs is the critical thing as its the centering of those cross hairs and their reflections that govern the collimation accuracy , i would worry that if the manifacturer cant get that right, are the cross hairs right...

[cs1cjc]

In my AE Colli-mate the aluminium reflector, eyehole, target part came out and is now secured with blutac. I think in yours this part is misplaced and, if it is new, I would return it . Otherwise the part needs to be fitted so that the long side of the reflector part is up against the tube and opposite the viewing hole. Good luck

[richarddownunder]

Hi - I borrowed an AE Cheshire collimator the other day and as it seemed to work well I thought I'd buy one (although the above discussion isn't so encouraging). I wrote to AE a couple of times but haven't had a reply. Does anyone know whether they are still in business (their website hasn't been updated for a while). Jim - did you get a response from them regarding your collimator (if you contacted them) or did you get it through a dealer? AE also used to do a laser collimator although I don't know if that was of their own manufacture or a re-badged import, I borrowed one of them too and it worked very well. It doesn't seem to be listed on their web site though.

Thanks

Richard

[johninderby]

AE are part of the Astronomy & Nature Centre (Scopes'n'Skies etc.)

http://www.astronomyandnature.com/

John

[Jim-a]

richard - I got it from Scopes & skies - I spoke to them on the phone and they said it looked like other ones they had (although I still cant see that it could be right - it works ok - but would be so much better if the whole of the target was illuminated through the hole) - they said they would get AE to drop me a mail - I never heard from them.

[richarddownunder]

Thanks for the replies. OK, I might try contacting Scopes n skies although it sounds like there may be better collimators out there. I haven't been able to get any sort of Cheshire locally so far (in New Zealand).

Cheers

Richard