Re: [Utah-astronomy] 2" Laser Collimator
Mark wrote:
WOW, Yes they look very sturdy and well made. The Collimator comes with a very big price also. Do you have one of these and do they work good?
Yes, I own one, Glatter's holographic collimators are the best and his collimator works exceptionally well. The ``holographic'' part means that there is an extra lens that spreads out the laser beam into a circle just smaller than 2 inches. That disk reflects off the angle bottom of Glatter's collimator. With a cheaper single point laser, it is possible to misalign your mirror, since the reflected point may land on the center of the secondary mirror, but the entire primary and secondary are at an angle to the centerline. Glatter's design collimates both the primary and secondary in three dimensional planes. Expensive laser collimaters like Glatter's are not needed for visual observing. They can add a little bit to your high magnification planetary visual observing but will not do anything substantial for your visual DSO observing. Laser collimators are really used for astrophotography, where you are trying to get the most resolution out of your camera chip when using a small fast focal ratio DOB. For visual observing alone, a little cap pinhole collimator is fine, even for short focal ratio DOBs. The 30 USD single point collimators are not really worth the money in terms of relative improvement in visual observing - IMHO. Others may have different opinions. A simple test that illustrates the ineffectiveness of a low-end single point collimator is to put the laser collimator the focuser. Do a collimation. Now loosen the focuser screw. Look anyway from the scope, but your hand on the collimator and randomnly rotate a number of turns. Re-secure the focuser screw and test your collimation again. You will find that the laser point will now be significantly at a different position and your scope appears to be quite a bit ``out of collimation.'' Glatter pays close attention to fabricating a finely machined, true collimator barrel that nearly, but not completely self-centers itself. (The device comes with some rubber gasket rings that help to true center the collimator in the focuser barrel.) If you do the same laser point beam test with Glatter's collimator (by removing the ``holographic'' beam spreading lens), the pinpoint laser dot will also move, but only by a very small amount. Clear Skies - Kurt
Mark, Glatter is the best for Laser but I've used the cats eye collimation http://www.catseyecollimation.com These are passive tools and have to be done with sunlight still available. I am ordering a set for my birthday, the two inch set. Jay Sent from my iPad On Apr 2, 2011, at 11:26 AM, Canopus56 <canopus56@yahoo.com> wrote:
Mark wrote:
WOW, Yes they look very sturdy and well made. The Collimator comes with a very big price also. Do you have one of these and do they work good?
Yes, I own one, Glatter's holographic collimators are the best and his collimator works exceptionally well. The ``holographic'' part means that there is an extra lens that spreads out the laser beam into a circle just smaller than 2 inches. That disk reflects off the angle bottom of Glatter's collimator.
With a cheaper single point laser, it is possible to misalign your mirror, since the reflected point may land on the center of the secondary mirror, but the entire primary and secondary are at an angle to the centerline. Glatter's design collimates both the primary and secondary in three dimensional planes.
Expensive laser collimaters like Glatter's are not needed for visual observing. They can add a little bit to your high magnification planetary visual observing but will not do anything substantial for your visual DSO observing. Laser collimators are really used for astrophotography, where you are trying to get the most resolution out of your camera chip when using a small fast focal ratio DOB.
For visual observing alone, a little cap pinhole collimator is fine, even for short focal ratio DOBs.
The 30 USD single point collimators are not really worth the money in terms of relative improvement in visual observing - IMHO. Others may have different opinions.
A simple test that illustrates the ineffectiveness of a low-end single point collimator is to put the laser collimator the focuser. Do a collimation. Now loosen the focuser screw. Look anyway from the scope, but your hand on the collimator and randomnly rotate a number of turns. Re-secure the focuser screw and test your collimation again. You will find that the laser point will now be significantly at a different position and your scope appears to be quite a bit ``out of collimation.''
Glatter pays close attention to fabricating a finely machined, true collimator barrel that nearly, but not completely self-centers itself. (The device comes with some rubber gasket rings that help to true center the collimator in the focuser barrel.) If you do the same laser point beam test with Glatter's collimator (by removing the ``holographic'' beam spreading lens), the pinpoint laser dot will also move, but only by a very small amount.
Clear Skies - Kurt
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php
I also have the book written by Vic Menard and Tippy, these are updated versions from his earlier tools. Collimation can be accomplished with these pretty well, it is probably a good idea to learn all methods. The star method worked well for many years, but it is nice to collimate before the stars appear.
Mark,
Glatter is the best for Laser but I've used the cats eye collimation http://www.catseyecollimation.com
These are passive tools and have to be done with sunlight still available. I am ordering a set for my birthday, the two inch set.
Jay
Sent from my iPad
On Apr 2, 2011, at 11:26 AM, Canopus56 <canopus56@yahoo.com> wrote:
Mark wrote:
WOW, Yes they look very sturdy and well made. The Collimator comes with a very big price also. Do you have one of these and do they work good?
Yes, I own one, Glatter's holographic collimators are the best and his collimator works exceptionally well. The ``holographic'' part means that there is an extra lens that spreads out the laser beam into a circle just smaller than 2 inches. That disk reflects off the angle bottom of Glatter's collimator.
With a cheaper single point laser, it is possible to misalign your mirror, since the reflected point may land on the center of the secondary mirror, but the entire primary and secondary are at an angle to the centerline. Glatter's design collimates both the primary and secondary in three dimensional planes.
Expensive laser collimaters like Glatter's are not needed for visual observing. They can add a little bit to your high magnification planetary visual observing but will not do anything substantial for your visual DSO observing. Laser collimators are really used for astrophotography, where you are trying to get the most resolution out of your camera chip when using a small fast focal ratio DOB.
For visual observing alone, a little cap pinhole collimator is fine, even for short focal ratio DOBs.
The 30 USD single point collimators are not really worth the money in terms of relative improvement in visual observing - IMHO. Others may have different opinions.
A simple test that illustrates the ineffectiveness of a low-end single point collimator is to put the laser collimator the focuser. Do a collimation. Now loosen the focuser screw. Look anyway from the scope, but your hand on the collimator and randomnly rotate a number of turns. Re-secure the focuser screw and test your collimation again. You will find that the laser point will now be significantly at a different position and your scope appears to be quite a bit ``out of collimation.''
Glatter pays close attention to fabricating a finely machined, true collimator barrel that nearly, but not completely self-centers itself. (The device comes with some rubber gasket rings that help to true center the collimator in the focuser barrel.) If you do the same laser point beam test with Glatter's collimator (by removing the ``holographic'' beam spreading lens), the pinpoint laser dot will also move, but only by a very small amount.
Clear Skies - Kurt
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php
_______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.slas.us/gallery2/main.php
participants (3)
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Canopus56 -
erikhansen＠thebluezone.net -
Jay Eads