Wilko collimation webcam - £8

[Uranium235]

I was idly browsing the internet a couple of hours ago when I stumbled across this:

https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-high-resolution-webcam/p/0460186

That particular camera looked almost as if it was a good fit for a 1.25" EP holder, so after work I popped out and grabbed one for the glorious price of just 8 qui!d!

 

So once I got home I opened the packaging and the front lip of the focusing ring *just* about fits into a 1.25" ep holder (with no wiggle), but not far enough for the thumb screws to lock it into position..... sooo looking around in the bits box I found a self-centreing EP adaptor, which when fully unwound allows you to fit it in by a few mm. All I had to do then was apply a little downward pressure whilst tightening up the adaptor and bingo.... it stayed put.

It works straight off wiith sharpcap (under W10) and looks like it will do a decent job of centreing a secondary mirror, maybe good enough for total collimation. I wont know until I try it later this evening.... but for 8 quid its worth a punt! I might use Al's reticle though, because the one in sharpcap cant be configured (I want the drawtube to stay in its imaging position while collimating).

[Uranium235]

Here is a pic:

[happy-kat]

Hope it works out well later

[Uranium235]

Just now, happy-kat said:

Hope it works out well later

Cheers, cant do it until the kids are in bed otherwise there would be just too many "little hands" touching things they shouldnt...lol. 

[RolandKol]

My ASI224MC nicely fit into 2", however even so, it was not dead central....
I am skeptic with this experiment, but very curious about your results!

[Uranium235]

8 minutes ago, RolandKol said:

My ASI224MC nicely fit into 2", however even so, it was not dead central....
I am skeptic with this experiment, but very curious about your results!

Yeah, there are the manufacturing tolerances - it could be way off, but if works it will be one of the all-time top bargains!

I will double check it with a cheshire to see if it got close.

[Uranium235]

Oh, for a quick check I just used a cheshire inserted at the other end of the self centreing adaptor and the crosshairs indicate that the middle of the lens is indeed central.

[Uranium235]

So far its a negative, though Ive since found a different way to connect it - but I wont be able to try that out until tomorrow.

[RolandKol]

[RolandKol]

inspired by your explorations,

just ordered this one   lets see what it bring on

[Chefgage]

On 06/03/2019 at 08:46, RolandKol said:

inspired by your explorations,

just ordered this one   lets see what it bring on

I will certainly be interested in the results ?