Collimators

[LaLaLara]

Hello everyone.  I've recently taken my skywatcher 1200mm dobsonian out from under cover in the spare room, where it's been for the last 2 years, being knocked about by chairs, ladders and cats.  It clearly needed collimating.  I bought a Seber laser collimator from Amazon for £28 but the darn thing is out of whack and my appetite to collimate a collimator is pretty low so I'm sending it back. Seber have a few bad reviews for this item. Can anyone recommend a decent, around £30 collimator, or does anyone in the Haywards Heath/Burgess Hill area have one that I could borrow? Thanks all, looking forward to getting back out there again  

[Paul73]

One of these will do you!

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

Paul

[Charic]

For what it costs to make, drill a 1mm hole though the focuser dust cap,   use cap to align,  and  follow this guide ........ http://www.astro-baby.com/collimation/astro babys collimation guide.htm

I can get  my scope setup just as good using a dust cap, as if I was using any other tool  from my inventory,  I have the choice of dust cap, 35mm film cannister, Cheshire or laser.  
Do read the guide several times to understand what your doing, mull it over a few times. A final Star test will confirm your setup, if the airy disk is concentric, no tool will better it?

[LaLaLara]

Many thanks Dark Matter and White Dwarf, Cheshire purchased and I have had a look at the link on how to collimate.  

Thanks again, wishing you clear skies!  

[Charic]

The Cheshire is probably the safest tool, and doesn't require batteries, so nothing can go wrong?

The names Dark Matter and White Dwarf are post count user ranks?  provided by the forum, and as your post count increases, so does your rank,  so your Vacuum according to your post count, but we'll know you as LaLaLara. Welcome to the SGL.

[Alan64]

The Cheshire collimator is best over all.  For minor adjustments in future, a collimation-cap is also recommended... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/other-collimation-tools/rigel-aline-collimation-cap.html

Your Sky-Watcher "Dobsonian" may have already come with a collimation-cap however.