Buying first scope and confused about best collimation tool for ota

[Squirrel-Labs]

Hi Folks,

Been lingering for some time building my wish list and reading as much as possible to try and get understanding of the various bits of kit. my aims are to observe at first and get used to navigating the stars using the trusted "turn left at Orion book" which I have had for a few years now, maybe snap a couple of quick exposure piccy's of the moon, planets with my SLR. I do intend eventually to move to a more stable HEQ5 or its equivalent when I have progressed enough in my knowledge of observation astronomy but dont want to overwhelm myself with setting the mount up.

I had a mead etx90 about 8 years ago and it was really frustrating setting it up to work in full goto mode, and in the end would just navigate to objects myself (mainly planets, Orion nebulae etc (the easy to find ones) hence my thinking on taking a slower approach this time around. Hope all that makes sense.

So far I have my sights set on:

Skywatcher 150pds 

Skywatcher EQ5 deluxe

Badder Hyperion Zoom and Barlow set

and adapters for SLR

I was reading about the Cheshire collimating tool and one of the FLO reviews suggested it wasn't really suited to an F5 scope, as the 150pds is an F5 scope I wasn't sure what would be best for that particular scope or was the review more relevant to the tube used for that review.

Any help guidance would be much appreciated.

Tony

[Alfian]

I use this one, which I think might be the one you refer to.

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/other-collimation-tools/premium-cheshire-collimating-eyepiece.html

I have used it (in combination with a home made collimation cap/EP)  in all my reflectors, including my f5 150 explorer, without any problems. Good bit of kit.

[Squirrel-Labs]

Edit: not first Scope as per title, but first in many years and first proper attempt at really getting into astronomy. apologies for the error there...

[Squirrel-Labs]

Yes that it is the one I was referring to, it was the second review on the review page that made me ask myself and you good folk if there was a more suitable for the shorter tubes, I also have the rigel aline cap in my basket (it was only £5.40 extra).

So I shouldn't worry about the review then and it will still work as intended.

Many Thanks for your reply.

[Astro_Baby]

The issue of not being able to see the entire primary mirror occurs with quite a lot of Cheshire/Combo tools.  Generally I use two tools - the Cheshire/Combo AND a collimation cap.  The cap allows a slightly wider view of whats going on in the secondary to primary phase of collimation while the Cheshire provides a more solid accuracy for the primary mirror alignment phase of the process.

You can make a collimation cap easily from an old 35mm film container or a disused focuser cap.

Mel

[Charic]

For very little setting up, full manual control, basic snaps of the Moon and great value for your money, have you considered a Sky-Watcher Skyliner in either 6" 150mm  or 8" 200P format.

Your collimation tools and both 1.25" & 2" eyepieces will fit the focuser. 

[Squirrel-Labs]

I am afraid I haven't Iooked at them closely, I got a bit narrow vision when I chose this tube and seen it as a great tube for the future after reading loads of reviews and saw their resulting pictures of various objects.

I am perhaps doing things a little backward to most folks, in that I am buying a tube I really see as being my main tube in the long run for when I get into the astro-photography where I would like to also take long exposure shots for stacking and the like, of as many objects as possible while still keeping it pretty mobile, I don't live to far away from some great dark sky's and make the trips out that way regularly to get away from the city noise etc..

The mount; I am kind of buying as a portable solution for quick'ish set-up until I have learnt enough to be confident to go with a heq5 on more serious observation / photo session.

[Squirrel-Labs]

The issue of not being able to see the entire primary mirror occurs with quite a lot of Cheshire/Combo tools.  Generally I use two tools - the Cheshire/Combo AND a collimation cap.  The cap allows a slightly wider view of whats going on in the secondary to primary phase of collimation while the Cheshire provides a more solid accuracy for the primary mirror alignment phase of the process.

You can make a collimation cap easily from an old 35mm film container or a disused focuser cap.

Mel

Champion, that is reassuring. Many thanks

[abodee2]

Bought the exact same setup for my first scope! I bought a laser collimator from FLO as opposed to a cheshire/collimation cap. 

Here's the link for it, found it easy and simple to use: http://www.firstlightoptics.com/other-collimation-tools/baader-laser-collimator.html

[Squirrel-Labs]

Bought the exact same setup for my first scope! I bought a laser collimator from FLO as opposed to a cheshire/collimation cap. 

Here's the link for it, found it easy and simple to use: http://www.firstlightoptics.com/other-collimation-tools/baader-laser-collimator.html

AH! and are you happy with your set-up, and is there anything you were left wanting?

Many thanks for the link, I did look at them but was concerned about the pointer itself needing collimating, but I have read an interesting page on there usage with the baader Barlow lens. hmm food for thought.

[Moonshane]

I use a standard cheap Cheshire for anything from my 16" f4 dob to my 6" f11 dob. it's fine for them all and is all you really need.

[abodee2]

AH! and are you happy with your set-up, and is there anything you were left wanting?

Many thanks for the link, I did look at them but was concerned about the pointer itself needing collimating, but I have read an interesting page on there usage with the baader Barlow lens. hmm food for thought.

It's a great scope - nice and stable on that mount. I'll be honest I almost threw it out the window trying to learn how to collimate. It's not really good enough to use the laser collimator alone because that doesn't tell you if the secondary is aligned with the focuser. I think the least you could get away with is a collimation cap (easy to make) and a laser collimator. You can make the cap just by poking a hole through the cap you get with a barlow or the one covering the focuser tube. Usually the high-end laser collimators dont need collimating themselves (oh god too much collimating) and they're pretty much good to go right out the box, but it's always good to check anyway. I'm still a bit slow collimating but I guess it just takes practise, there are plenty of videos on youtube showing you how to do it with just the cap and laser.

[abodee2]

Here's the video i've been watching: 

[Squirrel-Labs]

The collimating is what I fear the most, but will no doubt provide some entertainment of sorts when I am stuck in on a cloudy night, I just need to settle on which video / technique to use.

[bob9039]

great video abodee2, my 8" dobs came with a laser collminater after watching this video it was easy peasy to collminate.