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The Skywatcher 300p I am purchasing is second hand, and has to endure a 2 hour bumpy drive to my house. Because of this, I am worried if it will go out of collimation. Does anyone know some good products to use while collimating? I may sound like a fool, but all of my previous scopes have been 4 inches or under, and have never required collimation, so i'm a bit of a novis in collmaton. Thanks everyone,

Corkey

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Corkey I have been collimating Newts for many years and I would recommend these -

A basic collimation cap - https://www.firstlightoptics.com/other-collimation-tools/rigel-aline-collimation-cap.html

and I have used this Cheshire eyepiece which I rate as excellent quality -

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

I have used lasers but I find the Cheshire better.

 

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8 minutes ago, Corkeyno2 said:

The Skywatcher 300p I am purchasing is second hand, and has to endure a 2 hour bumpy drive to my house. Because of this, I am worried if it will go out of collimation. Does anyone know some good products to use while collimating? I may sound like a fool, but all of my previous scopes have been 4 inches or under, and have never required collimation, so i'm a bit of a novis in collmaton. Thanks everyone,

Corkey

 

A collimation cap can be purchased. Or if you have a old 35mm film canister. Then you can make one yourself. Drill a hole dead centre of the cap about 1mm in diameter.

As for using the cap and collimation. Then have a look on the web at Astro baby collimation guide.

I hope the above helps☺ 

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27 minutes ago, popeye85 said:

This is an excellent reference guide, but the best tool is someone walking you through it. I had a very kind gentle man (who's name currently eludes me - sorry) at SGL12 give me an excellent lesson and really took any kind of fear out of doing it.

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 Well worth getting the hang of collimating your scope Asap! My Newtonians need collimating every time they go out.

As recommended above a cheap(ish) Cheshire and AstroBaby's guide will get you off to a flying start.

Paul

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I have just collimated both my 150 newts and its not really that bad. Just takes a while to get your head around what you are looking at. That secondary mirror really throws me bit if you stick your hand in there you can then see what is what.

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12 hours ago, rockystar said:

This is an excellent reference guide, but the best tool is someone walking you through it. I had a very kind gentle man (who's name currently eludes me - sorry) at SGL12 give me an excellent lesson and really took any kind of fear out of doing it.

same here, but his name was shane :icon_biggrin:

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...unless your driving a steel rimmed chariot, I`d not fuss too much over the transportation issue, although a duvet or sleeping bag may offer some faith?
But collimation is a must at some stage, akin to re-tuning a guitar, the equipment needs setting up.

Can I suggest, let the scope cool down to the outside temperature, place an eyepiece in the focuser and look at the North Star, if that's visible from Virgo Supercluster ?

The North Star, Polaris will show little, if any movement across your field of view, this is good as it allows you to carry out the task without having to rush or maintain any tracking?

Can you see Polaris, it should look  just fine, although not the brightest Star up there, but  now try looking at the Star while you de-focus the image ( either way ) what your looking for now is a central darker spot in the image, with lighter concentric circles surrounding the darker spot, with the image still central in the viewfinder.
If everything is central, and the rings are equally spaced, you will have a telescope that is collimated. Even the dust cap  from the focuser that came with the  telescope, can be  centrally drilled with a 1mm hole, in order for you to carry out further collimation, should your telescope require it. Follow the Astro baby guide.

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18 hours ago, popeye85 said:

This is brilliant advice, in the absence of having someone to guide you through it Astrobabys guide is invaluable. I used to have a 200P which I bought second hand, and had many sleepless nights over collimation before actually having a go. The guide really does explain everything well, just give yourself a bit of time and don't have a whisky before doing it the first time :D

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If you've had telescopes before have a dig around for an old end cap. I found the one which came at the end of my old refractor, this fitted perfectly so I drilled a small hole in the middle and pained the underneath white. This and a Cheshire seem to work nicely

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The secondary rarely need adjustment once set up. It is the primary that needs constant attention. I'm lazy so have got myself a cheap chinese lazer collimator which is rubbish I know but I used my cheshire to get everything spot on then aligned the lazer to the scope. 

Now I just need to make sure the lazer collimator is facing the right way (towards the primary) and I can adjust my primary in seconds.

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