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Collimating Maxbright II Binoviewers


Paz

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I decided to have a go at collimating my binoviewers to get them dead on at ludicrous-magnification.

The process is...

1. loosen the three 1.3mm allen bolts around the base of the eyepiece holder and lift it off the binoviewer.

2. loosen the three 2mm allen bolts on the base plate that allows the plate to be moved around to collimate (see picture).

3. put the eyepiece holder back on top.

4. move it around to get the collimation right.

5. Hold the position still, take off the eyepiece/ holder, and tighten down the 2mm Allen bolts.

6. put the eyepiece holder back on and tighter the 1.3mm allen bolts.

Points 1+4 work great, I can adjust to get it absolutely spot on.

The problem is step 5 where it is very hard to hold it exactly in place and when I do a final check it generally ends up slightly out of line with where I had placed it. I need to work out some way of holding the collar completely still until I tighten it down, or else it's a case of just doing it lots of times until I happen to get it right.

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Interesting Paz - I’d seen a thread on CN about this. I’ve been happy with my MBII so far. They are really excellent value for money in my view - as long as they’re collimated properly, so your guide will hopefully help other owners get the best out of them.

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19 hours ago, Highburymark said:

Interesting Paz - I’d seen a thread on CN about this. I’ve been happy with my MBII so far. They are really excellent value for money in my view - as long as they’re collimated properly, so your guide will hopefully help other owners get the best out of them.

I am also a fan of these and the t2 system for minimising light path.

The fact that I'm fiddling around with it says more about me than the binoviewers, I've been using them fine for some time but if something can be fettled and it's so persistently cloudy that not much observing is happening then this is the result.

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On 26/10/2020 at 18:11, Paz said:

I am also a fan of these and the t2 system for minimising light path.

The fact that I'm fiddling around with it says more about me than the binoviewers, I've been using them fine for some time but if something can be fettled and it's so persistently cloudy that not much observing is happening then this is the result.

I know what you mean. I’ve discovered that one of the clicklock eyepiece holders on my Mark V isn’t perfectly attached to the body of the BV - can rock it a fraction. Doesn’t in any way affect the collimation, but it’s one of those annoying cloudy day/fettle issues. Trouble is the Mk V clicklocks are much less user friendly than the MBII’s. Although there are also tiny Allen screws which can be seen on the attached pic - they don’t release or tighten the EP holder apparently, and Baader warned they should not be fiddled with. Can’t find anything on web which reveals what the screws are there for.

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"Although there are also tiny Allen screws which can be seen on the attached pic - they don’t release or tighten the EP holder apparently, and Baader warned they should not be fiddled with. Can’t find anything on web which reveals what the screws are there for."

Mark,

I bet Denis Levatic, the binoviewer guru would know what they're for.

He is known for supercharging and servicing binoviewers and was very active on Cloudy Nights (he serviced a pair for me a couple of years or so back. 

Might be worth trying CN threads to track him down?

Dave

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16 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

"Although there are also tiny Allen screws which can be seen on the attached pic - they don’t release or tighten the EP holder apparently, and Baader warned they should not be fiddled with. Can’t find anything on web which reveals what the screws are there for."

Mark,

I bet Denis Levatic, the binoviewer guru would know what they're for.

He is known for supercharging and servicing binoviewers and was very active on Cloudy Nights (he serviced a pair for me a couple of years or so back. 

Might be worth trying CN threads to track him down?

Dave

Great minds and all that Dave - I had thought about this as I’ve contacted Denis before. You’ve given me the nudge I needed. How is your binoviewing going? Must be glorious through that beautiful 5” Tak.

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Thanks Mark.

I'm getting there gradually..in recent times either the weather has been awful, or we've been travelling to visit family (grown children in Devon, The Midlands and Yorkshire) before they tighten visiting, or I've just been too tired to get out on occasion. Finally, the seeing over here on the east coast has been mostly lousy for weeks..we do get some good skies at times, but sometimes the weather seems to get "stuck", as it has recently. Mars has been incredibly bright but also incredibly "shimmery", making higher powers to get larger image scale almost impossible. But just now and again you get short spells of steadiness, and that's when you get the "Wow!" factor.

I've now settled on pairs of Morpheus 17.5mm, Celestron Omni 32mm plossls and I have a pair of Celestron Halloween 26mm plossls which I may keep or let go..am undecided yet as they are quite close to the Omni 32s, but both pairs give great views.

I use a Baader Hyperion zoom 2.25x with the above for much higher magnification and also a W.O. 1.6x nosepiece. I find the above mix to be pretty good.

Cheers,

Dave

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