collimation

[Adamski]

Hi all,

I've had my scope for a couple of months now and have just collimated for first time. I don't think it was too bad anyway but I suppose i had to check anyway. I used a plastic film case with a pin ***** in the centre of the lid, it was slightly out but usable. Do i really need to spend money on a proper collimator or is this method good enough to see me through? Any advice will be gratefully received.

cheers

Adamski:confused:

SW150pl with all you need.

philips spc900 webcam.

plastic film case.

[Adamski]

Hi,

in my recent thread i wrote pin *****, what i meant was pin hole. the lounge software is very good at filtering bad words. sorry

Adamski

[12inchDoB]

Hi, could you give me the link to the plastic film case lid trick please..

I searched forum but cant see it..

thanks

Stu

[Trull]

if you don't collimate every time you observe you will regret it. Does a violinist tune his instrument every time? yep! Even every hour is quite normal... get yourself a nice laser collimator and with a little practise you'll collimate in under a minute. Then enjoy the best of your instrument. After all you'd be pretty upset if you traded down to a 1" reflector... which is the same as bad collimation!

[Si W]

Yes, Trull is absolutely right, you need to collimate your scope every time you use it to get the best from it.

[dweller25]

Hello Adamski,

The Plastic film case lid is 100% OK.

It will give you a very good collimation which you can perfect by using a star later.

[Hypernova]

Lasers are good but they need collimating themselves, if you don't the laser dot may be off centre even when the 'scope is collimated and your views will be worse than doing without. You can fairly easily collimate lasers using the "v-block method"

Here: Laser Collimator Collimator

Or you can do away with all that and use a "Cheshire Eyepiece", no batteries needed and simple to use. You just align the crosshairs with primary dot by adjusting the secondary mirror and then adjusting the primary so that the reflection of peephole in the eyepiece lines up with the primary and crosshairs.

Collimation - Cheshire Collimating Eyepiece

[Si W]

I don't use the V block method, it's a pain, all you need to do is put the secondary mirror out of alignment and put the laser collimator in the eyepiece holder, then rotate it 360 degree so it can be seen on say a wall a few meters away, if the red dot stays in the same place the laser collimator is collimated.

[Adamski]

Hello m8,

the plastic film case method was in the instructions i got with my scope, i will try and copy all the info for you now but i'm a one finger typist so bear with me.

cheers.

Adamski

[Si W]

What i would suggest is visit Astro Babys site, and read up about collimation, well worth a read.

Astro Babys Guide to Collimation

[Adamski]

Hi it's me again,

make a very small hole in the lid of the film case, cut the bottom off the film case. Insert this into the eye piece holder. Look through the small hole, you should be able to see the 3 primary mirror clips, if not adjust the secondary mirror with a small allen key(or scredriver if thats what you need) until you can see all 3 primary mirror clips. To collimate the primary mirror you loosen the adjusting screws a couple of turns. Now run your around the front of your scope, keeping your eye to the focuser, you will see the reflectes image of you hand. the idea here is to see which way the primary mirror is defected, you do this by stopping atthe point where the reflected image of the secondary mirror is closest to the primary mirrors edge. when u get to this point keep your hand there while looking at the back of your scope, if there is an adjusting screw there you will need to loosen it to bring the mirror away from that point, if there is no adjusting screw then tighten the opposite two screws. this will gradually bring the mirror into line until the pin hole is in the centre of what you see through the focuser.

I hope this helps you out, it only takes 5-10 minutes first time and will get quicker as you learn.

good luck,

Adamski

[Adamski]

cheers mate, i've just passed on the info i got about it to someone else. i feel more confident about it thanks to your feedback.

cheers

Adamski

[Adamski]

now i've seen how easy it is i'll keep it up. what you say is true of course, being a guitar player i should know better hey.

cheers.

Adamski

[Adamski]

hi,

i've just read the collimating section on the link you provided, very informative. i will definately recheck tomorrow if my viewing is no good tonight.

thanks for that.

Adamski

[12inchDoB]

Hi it's me again,

make a very small hole in the lid of the film case, cut the bottom off the film case. Insert this into the eye piece holder. Look through the small hole, you should be able to see the 3 primary mirror clips, if not adjust the secondary mirror with a small allen key(or scredriver if thats what you need) until you can see all 3 primary mirror clips. To collimate the primary mirror you loosen the adjusting screws a couple of turns. Now run your around the front of your scope, keeping your eye to the focuser, you will see the reflectes image of you hand. the idea here is to see which way the primary mirror is defected, you do this by stopping atthe point where the reflected image of the secondary mirror is closest to the primary mirrors edge. when u get to this point keep your hand there while looking at the back of your scope, if there is an adjusting screw there you will need to loosen it to bring the mirror away from that point, if there is no adjusting screw then tighten the opposite two screws. this will gradually bring the mirror into line until the pin hole is in the centre of what you see through the focuser.

I hope this helps you out, it only takes 5-10 minutes first time and will get quicker as you learn.

good luck,

Adamski

Thanks Adamski...

I have a film case and will try though im ordering a laser just to make sure