Will a new Sky-watcher 200pds need initial collimation adjustments?

[JoakimN]

I've ordered at sky-watcher 200pds. I see several threads about collimation of the 200pds in this forum. Is the collimation set properly from factory, or should I get a tool for doing this right away?

[Andyk93]

Hi, mine came pretty much perfect but it depends on how much of a rough delivery it had. It may need a slight adjustment and I would definitely check it anyway before you use it.

[Cornelius Varley]

A brand new telescope shouldn't require collimation.

[Daz69]

My Celestron came with the secondary dangling in the breeze, literally on the cup of falling off the adjustment bolt. You will need to get a collimation tool if you don't already have one, and as said above, it should (or you would like to think) be already set up perfect, but unless you check it properly it could be out, and give you bad views. I'd check it regardless. 

[SmokeyJoe]

My sw200p was perfect out of the box. But I would get some form of Collimation tool, you will need it eventually.

[John]

It depends what conditions the scope was subjected too during shipping. It might be spot on or it might be out.

Collimation is part and parcel of owning a newtonian, straightforward and should be considered in the same way as a guitarist fine tuning his / her guitar before playing it, in my view.

 

 

[Gary170782]

I bought mine from FLO and it was spot on, I did however buy a collimator just incase it was out. It was fun having a mess around doing it anyway because I actually made it worse for a while ?

[Tim]

Even if, by sheer luck the transported scope remains collimated, you will at some point need to check or improve it. Most likely the primary will need tweaking after shipping. In the end you'll need a collimator anyway. Chesire type is best, if you want to treat yourself to the best, go for a Cats Eye.

Enjoy your new scope

[JoakimN]

Thanx for the tips

[Xplode]

Scopes with a flimsy steel tube go out of collimation as soon as you adjust the rings so receiving one perfectly collimated that have travelled thousands of kilometres? Nope!

Some scopes are ok collimated after the travel thou and definitely good enough for visual

[SmokeyJoe]

I have spent hours reading posts and articles on Collimation to the point where I really couldn't see the wood for the trees. Don't get me wrong, I love this forum and find the posts and advice given really useful, but there is always more than one way to do anything and if you are a compleat beginner it is easy to get far too much info, I found this really basic guide originally from sky and telescope.

http://garyseronik.com/a-beginners-guide-to-collimation/

Hope it helps.

You can get a cheap Collimation cap from FLO.

[Moonshane]

You only need a single tool for newtonian collimationhttps://www.firstlightoptics.com/other-collimation-tools/cheshire-collimating-eyepiece.html

At some point you'll need to adjust it and to get the best out of it you will be best advised to check it before every use.

I devised my guide to be simple and practical

 

[ronin]

It may, is the answer.

The other aspect is that you will eventually need to, and you will also need to check if it is in collimation or not. First time it is easier to just use the thing and find out what the view or imaging results are.

Have a search round for something that describes the required actions in a way that you can follow. Also get an idea of what the "collimation" does. Knowing what the end result is can help.

[iapa]

18 hours ago, JoakimN said:

I've ordered at sky-watcher 200pds. I see several threads about collimation of the 200pds in this forum. Is the collimation set properly from factory, or should I get a tool for doing this right away?

Mine was fine when it arrived, and I handled it gently for the next year.

[iapa]

18 hours ago, JoakimN said:

I've ordered at sky-watcher 200pds. I see several threads about collimation of the 200pds in this forum. Is the collimation set properly from factory, or should I get a tool for doing this right away?

 

• do lots of research into collimation techniques.
• Review those
• check your setup to see if it looks OK, or not - do not adjust
• review them again
• check your setup to see if it looks OK, or not - do not adjust
• and again,
• check your setup to see if it looks OK, or not - do not adjust
• whilst doing so, ask for advice in SGL.
• check your setup to see if it looks OK, or not - do not adjust
• Then take look at actually doing it.

If you start of chalk-cocked you could make things much worse than they were.

After the research, and the advice, it becomes a less daunting task.

After two or three attempts, it's even becomes easy - so I have heard.

 

[davyludo]

10 minutes ago, iapa said:

 

• do lots of research into collimation techniques.
• Review those
• check your setup to see if it looks OK, or not - do not adjust
• review them again
• check your setup to see if it looks OK, or not - do not adjust
• and again,
• check your setup to see if it looks OK, or not - do not adjust
• whilst doing so, ask for advice in SGL.
• check your setup to see if it looks OK, or not - do not adjust
• Then take look at actually doing it.

If you start of chalk-cocked you could make things much worse than they were.

After the research, and the advice, it becomes a less daunting task.

After two or three attempts, it's even becomes easy - so I have heard.

 

As an engineer I did the typical thing and threw the instructions to the side and started twiddling knobs (the scope was a gift that I wasn't expecting and I had no experience with reflectors).

I would advise against this, follow the advice above, look at it before you touch anything!! However....it meant I had to learn how to fix it straight away, so I suppose you could say it was like jumping in at the deep end.

[iapa]

Just now, davyludo said:

As an engineer I did the typical thing and threw the instructions to the side and started twiddling knobs (the scope was a gift that I wasn't expecting and I had no experience with reflectors).

I would advise against this, follow the advice above, look at it before you touch anything!! However....it meant I had to learn how to fix it straight away, so I suppose you could say it was like jumping in at the deep end.

I should add..... this is not what I did.

Background over 40yrs is mechanical, electrical/electronic & software engineering (I still dont get software 'engineering' as a term , but, if I think about it I can see why that term is used).

Why would i follow manuals/instructions? Im an 'engineer' (and male), I know it all ..... not

 

 

[davyludo]

1 hour ago, iapa said:

I should add..... this is not what I did.

Background over 40yrs is mechanical, electrical/electronic & software engineering (I still dont get software 'engineering' as a term , but, if I think about it I can see why that term is used).

Why would i follow manuals/instructions? Im an 'engineer' (and male), I know it all ..... not

What about firmware engineering? 

Glad I'm not the only one that doesn't look at instructions. I do occasionally regret it later...but usually I know better, and say things like "what could the instructions possibly tell me?"

Seriously though, just check it over when it arrives and take your time to understand it. You'll have loads of time anyway...there's a rule about the weather being terrible when you get new kit!

[JoakimN]

Well, well. Hasn't been a single clear night here for that past weeks. If this goes on, I guess there will be plenty of time reading instructions. There is not only collimation that needs to be set up with a heq5