cats eye triplepack XLSK first thoughts

[Daniel-K]

Today i received yet more collimation tools to suppress my OCD. My first impressions were very neat tidy box with the foam cut perfectly to size for each instrument. The amount of instructions that come with it are very detailed with pictures! next was the 3 instruments 4 if you include the red torch.

1. The sight tube is huge and quite light but built to very high standard

2. The cheshire has a nice reflective circle on the under side making it easier to see in the dark well built solid design

3.The Auto Colli with two eye holes. even at a glance you can tell the mirror is far better than the farpoint AC its also a fair bit bigger.

4. the clip on red LED torch even has cork on the clips to stop damage to the spider vanes great attention to detail

they all fit perfectly into the 2" focuser with no play whats so ever. very pleased with this and i am about to have a play

[Daniel-K]

oh and just to confirm i have rotated the AC 360 and the reflections dont budge

[Chris]

Like you say Dan the fit and finish looks great. it looks like it should have some kind of profound name like the Judge, "Right this collimation larks getting a bit tricky fetch the Judge!"

I'll be following this as the 200p is just to tide me over untill I can affored a 10" Quattro:)

[Jason D]

Dan, if Catseye can't heal your OCD then I don't know what will

Referring to your Farpoint Autocollimator photo, is that crushed glass around the periphery of the pupil? Does Farpoint drill a hole in the mirror glass? If yes, that is not a good way to do it. Those small cracks around the pupil will have an impact.

Catseye leaves the glass alone and only etches some of the silvering around the pupil. Doing it this way does not stress the glass or leave micro-cracks. In addition, it will minimize the non-reflective area loss around the pupil.

Jason

[Black Knight]

I'm interested in the Catseye stuff myself. I shall be following your progress with interest!

[Daniel-K]

Dan, if Catseye can't heal your OCD then I don't know what will

Referring to your Farpoint Autocollimator photo, is that crushed glass around the periphery of the pupil? Does Farpoint drill a hole in the mirror glass? If yes, that is not a good way to do it. Those small cracks around the pupil will have an impact.

Catseye leaves the glass alone and only etches some of the silvering around the pupil. Doing it this way does not stress the glass or leave micro-cracks. In addition, it will minimize the non-reflective area loss around the pupil.

Jason

hi jason yes it does look like they DRILL the spy hole, the edges do look tatty but when it arrives in its bag and piece of paper it does say thats its NORMAL??

[Daniel-K]

ok so i have just collimated using the Triplepack XLSK kit and for the first time i feel confident it is collimated. the video

is a step by step guide really helpful as i was struggling trying ti align reflections P&3 which part of the CDP procedure to align the secondary, in the video it covers what happens if you cant algin reflections P&3 GREAT!! you then use the offset pupil to stack the other reflection but you have to go back and forth between the blackcat align that then back to the AC align the reflections again and then back to black cat and it showed it was collimated. i droped in a sight tube with cross hairs to see if it was collimated and it was. looks like tomorrow will be my first light so will post some pictures of the a star test. MUST BUY BOBS KNOBS!!!! allen keys are driving me bonkers!

[Black Knight]

MUST BUY BOBS KNOBS!!!! allen keys are driving me bonkers!

You can also get M4 secondary collimation knobs from 365 Astronomy http://www.365astronomy.com/set-of-m4-thumbscrews-for-secondary-mirror-collimation-set-of-3-screws-p-3196.html

[Rustysplit]

Great stuff Dan! So much better.

[Jason D]

i was struggling trying ti align reflections P&3 which part of the CDP procedure to align the secondary, in the video it covers what happens if you cant algin reflections P&3 GREAT!! you then use the offset pupil to stack the other reflection but you have to go back and forth between the blackcat align that then back to the AC align the reflections again and then back to black cat and it showed it was collimated. i droped in a sight tube with cross hairs to see if it was collimated and it was. looks like tomorrow will be my first light so will post some pictures of the a star test. MUST BUY BOBS KNOBS!!!! allen keys are driving me bonkers!

There are several collimation procedures with the Catseye kit. Maybe the following procedure will be more helpful:

1- Stack reflection P and 1 via the XLK autocollimator central pupil by adjusting the primary mirror. No need to be extra precise.

2- Stack reflections P and 2 via the XLK autocollimator offset pupil by adjusting the secondary mirror. No need to be extra precise.

Iterate between the above two steps. Note that both steps involve the XLK; therefore, you do not have to swap tools.

Once you meet the requirements of the above steps, your collimation is very close. Now we move to fine tuning.

1- Insert the Blackcat cheshire and align by adjusting the primary mirror -- now be as precise as you can

2- Insert the XLK autocollimator and stack P and 2 via the offset pupil by adjusting the secondary mirror -- now be as precise as you can.

Iterate between the above two steps until both tools show great alignment.

The above will save you time and cut down on the tool swapping.

Check the attached animations to visualize what goes on. Click on the attachments to see the animation.

Jason

The following explains what axial alignment is

The following animation shows you that P+2 stack via the XLK autocollimator offset pupil is only sensitive to the "tilt" of the focal plane

The following animation shows you that the Blackcat cheshire is only sensitive to the "shift" of the focal plane.

If the XLK offset pupil tells you that the focal plane is not tilted and the Backcat tells you the focal plane is not shifted then you have achieved axial alignment.

Jason

[Jason D]

Dan, I hope you found that video helpful. I made that video. That is my XT10 scope and my hands in the video. Jim Fly (Catseye owner) asked me if I can make a video for Catseye so I did.

Jason