meade 12'' mirror alignments

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yobbo89 Australia
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meade 12'' mirror alignments

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Post by yobbo89 »


so i've pulled this scope apart to tighten the secondary holder and cleaned the corrector. since i replaced the secondary bolts i thought i'd give this a try, i used my laser to reflect of the secondary back to the collimator to give it a rough collimation, i soon found out how useless this was, no where in the ball park..

any how i found a star and did a collimation with blocking my hand at the front and finding the correct screw to tighten/loosen. star test was pretty good, a slight difference between inner and outer focal which i'll correct on another session ( it might just be focal tilt),i also bring the scope to about f30 and check it again and was pretty much still in the ballpark which is good that it holds it's collimation when changing barlows ie my barlows are running square to the focal path.

The sky was pretty bad ,wanted to image the moon, but there was a bit of a haze at its native focal and using a barlow aswell, i hope this is just seeing conditions.

any way i wanted to share this image of my laser collimator, this is after i did a star collimation and it shows where the focuser is aligned to the secondary but with a good star test.anyway what are your thoughts on this ? i've seen videos of people packing more cork on the side of the corrector to try and correct the misalignment.

edit: i guess this could be that image tilt, the only way i guess i could see if it's the secondary is if i spot it
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20191013_002717.jpg
scopes :gso/bintel f4 12"truss tube, bresser messier ar127s /skywatcher 10'' dob,meade 12'' f10 lx200 sct
cameras : asi 1600mm-c/asi1600mm-c,asi120mc,prostar lp guidecam, nikkon d60, sony a7,asi 290 mm
mounts : eq6 pro/eq8/mesu 200 v2
filters : 2'' astronomik lp/badder lrgb h-a,sII,oIII,h-b,Baader Solar Continuum, chroma 3nm ha,sii,oiii,nii,rgb,lowglow,uv/ir,Thousand Oaks Solar Filter,1.25'' #47 violet,pro planet 742 ir,pro planet 807 ir,pro planet 642 bp ir.
extras : skywatcher f4 aplanatic cc, Baader MPCC MKIII Coma Corrector,Orion Field Flattener,zwo 1.25''adc.starlight maxi 2" 9x filter wheel,tele vue 2x barlow .

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JayTee United States of America
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Re: meade 12'' mirror alignments

#2

Post by JayTee »


I've never had any luck with a mechanical collimator (a Cheshire, or laser) for my SCT's. I have found that nothing beats the use of the Duncan mask and the star test. The Duncan gets me close the star test finishes it.

Cheers,
JT
∞ Primary Scopes: #1: Celestron CPC1100 #2: 8" f/7.5 Dob #3: CR150HD f/8 6" frac
∞ AP Scopes: #1: TPO 6" f/9 RC #2: ES 102 f/7 APO #3: ES 80mm f/6 APO
∞ G&G Scopes: #1: Meade 102mm f/7.8 #2: Bresser 102mm f/4.5
∞ Guide Scopes: 70 & 80mm fracs -- The El Cheapo Bros.
∞ Mounts: iOptron CEM70AG, SW EQ6, Celestron AVX, SLT & GT (Alt-Az), Meade DS2000
∞ Cameras: #1: ZWO ASI294MC Pro #2: 662MC #3: 120MC, Canon T3i, Orion SSAG, WYZE Cam3
∞ Binos: 10X50,11X70,15X70, 25X100
∞ EPs: ES 2": 21mm 100° & 30mm 82° Pentax XW: 7, 10, 14, & 20mm 70°

Searching the skies since 1966. "I never met a scope I didn't want to keep."

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yobbo89 Australia
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Re: meade 12'' mirror alignments

#3

Post by yobbo89 »


is it worth making a duncan mask if you already can do a reasonable collimation on a star ?
scopes :gso/bintel f4 12"truss tube, bresser messier ar127s /skywatcher 10'' dob,meade 12'' f10 lx200 sct
cameras : asi 1600mm-c/asi1600mm-c,asi120mc,prostar lp guidecam, nikkon d60, sony a7,asi 290 mm
mounts : eq6 pro/eq8/mesu 200 v2
filters : 2'' astronomik lp/badder lrgb h-a,sII,oIII,h-b,Baader Solar Continuum, chroma 3nm ha,sii,oiii,nii,rgb,lowglow,uv/ir,Thousand Oaks Solar Filter,1.25'' #47 violet,pro planet 742 ir,pro planet 807 ir,pro planet 642 bp ir.
extras : skywatcher f4 aplanatic cc, Baader MPCC MKIII Coma Corrector,Orion Field Flattener,zwo 1.25''adc.starlight maxi 2" 9x filter wheel,tele vue 2x barlow .

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JayTee United States of America
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Articles: 2
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Posts: 5619
Joined: Thu Apr 25, 2019 3:23 am
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Location: Idaho, USA
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Re: meade 12'' mirror alignments

#4

Post by JayTee »


Naw, I made mine because of the whole "idle hands" thing, I just needed something to do. Plus, I had a spare pizza box top just screaming "make me into something!"

Cheers,
JT
∞ Primary Scopes: #1: Celestron CPC1100 #2: 8" f/7.5 Dob #3: CR150HD f/8 6" frac
∞ AP Scopes: #1: TPO 6" f/9 RC #2: ES 102 f/7 APO #3: ES 80mm f/6 APO
∞ G&G Scopes: #1: Meade 102mm f/7.8 #2: Bresser 102mm f/4.5
∞ Guide Scopes: 70 & 80mm fracs -- The El Cheapo Bros.
∞ Mounts: iOptron CEM70AG, SW EQ6, Celestron AVX, SLT & GT (Alt-Az), Meade DS2000
∞ Cameras: #1: ZWO ASI294MC Pro #2: 662MC #3: 120MC, Canon T3i, Orion SSAG, WYZE Cam3
∞ Binos: 10X50,11X70,15X70, 25X100
∞ EPs: ES 2": 21mm 100° & 30mm 82° Pentax XW: 7, 10, 14, & 20mm 70°

Searching the skies since 1966. "I never met a scope I didn't want to keep."

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