Collimating a SW Evostar 120

[colonel cluster]

My new SW 120 Evostar has a collimateable lens cell which having star tested appears to be ok, therefore i do not intend messing around with it, my question is this, should it need collimating at sometime what tools are required? there are 3 screws and 3 small holes which i assume hides allen bolts, does anyone know what size these bolts are?

Cheers

Dave

[John]

I can't recall the exact size but it is a metric Allen / Hex key that's needed. TBH though I doubt you will need to collimate if it's OK now, unless you really bash the tube around. Earlier models of this scope (branded Helios back then) did not have a collimatable lens cell but still seemed to work fine.

Try and resist the temptation fo "fine tune" the collimation - I did this with the 6" version of the scope once and it took ages to get it back to where it had been before I started messing

John

[PaulG]

Earlier models of this scope (branded Helios back then) did not have a collimatable lens cell but still seemed to work fine.

John

John

Helios may have changed this later on in it's life.

The one I have has the adjustments on the lens cell.

I don't intend messing with it unless it resolves less detail than my Mak

Paul

[Psychobilly]

If it aint broke don't fix it....oneday i'll follow that bit of advice

Billy...

[John]

John

Helios may have changed this later on in it's life.

The one I have has the adjustments on the lens cell.

I don't intend messing with it unless it resolves less detail than my Mak

Paul

Yep - I've had a Helios with a collimatable cell and an earlier one without. I was never totally convinced of the benefits of the collimatable cell - it added a lot of weight to the front end of the tube, especially in the 6" model which was front heavy to start with. You had to add a few pounds of counterweights to the focusser end to move the balance point to a place where the eyepiece was at a reasonable height.

Good scopes otherwise though - I got a 6" EQ mounted refractor for £200 - can't be bad !.

John