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Skywatcher Heritage 130p - does focuser quality hinder collimation?


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Hello all! I just purchased a 130p and used it a couple of times. Overall, I'm having a lot of fun so far.

I managed to collimate the scope using a cap which seemed to work well. I then borrowed a laser collimator from a friend to compare. I was curious to see if my cap collimation matched. The laser collimator is collimated. I tested this by securing it and pointing it at a wall around 10 feet away. I turned the laser slowly and it was pretty much spot on. It may have made a tiny circle - it was hard to tell. If it did, the circle was no more than 2-3 mm. At 10 feet away, I considered this good enough.

Right, so I chucked the laser collimator into the scope, and it was pretty close to being collimated already - which was pleasing initially. However, when I turned the laser in the focuser, it made a circle - easily over 10mm in diameter. I figured it was because of the slack, so I tightened the 2 screws to secure the laser in place, with just enough slack to turn it. Still it drew a circle. I then thought maybe the issue is the looseness of the focuser thread. Ive read several times people use teflon tape to tighten this up - so I did the same. After a few layers there was no more wobble. This time, I secured the laser firmly in place with the 2 screws, and instead turned the focuser in/out of focus to spin the laser. Same result again - the dot went round in a circle.

At this point, I thought I should check the laser again. Took it out of the scope. Put it in my stand ( its a heavy stand with two metal V shapes to hold the laser ). Again pointed it to a wall 10 feet away. It was pretty much perfect. barely any movement at all when I turned it.

So, if the laser is collimated - but the dot doesn't hold its position in the scope when the laser is rotated - it looks like its a problem with how the focuser is engineered on the 130p.

Can anybody offer any insight? Has anybody managed to successfully use a laser collimator on this particular scope?

Edited by soojooko
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  • soojooko changed the title to Skywatcher Heritage 130p - does focuser quality hinder collimation?

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