lotus1
sage
Reged: 12/11/06
Posts: 246
Loc: PALM COAST FL USA
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Sorry for cross posting this one but I'm curios. Has any one used this, if so , is it any good? Kendrick SCT coll. 
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Celestron SE 8 SCT
SWAN eyepieces 9 15 20 25 33 40mm
9mm LV
Celestron Omni 2x barlow
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Tele Vue bandmates (nep/oxy lll)
"I find your lack of faith, disturbing".
-Darth Vader-
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THX1138
member
Reged: 09/08/05
Posts: 48
Loc: South Wales, UK
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I would like to know the answer to this one too!
Bump!
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Starman1
Vendor (EyepiecesEtc.com)
Reged: 06/24/03
Posts: 17639
Loc: Los Angeles
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I have the 2" with the 45 degree face with grid marked on it.
It arrived uncollimated. It didn't agree with the 2" Catseye tools, which I trusted, so I went to collimate it using graph paper on a wall at 20' away.
Tightening the collimation screws crushed the diode. There was nothing to protect the diode from the collimation screws!
It went back to Kendrick, where they installed a square aluminum structure around the diode, recollimated the laser, and returned it to me (cost about $37).
It arrived to me out of collimation.
I spent about 2 hours collimating the laser so the dot (almost 1/4" at 20'--a little larger than it should be) didn't move when the laser was rotated in my "V-Block" holder. I put a pencil point in the center of the red dot at each of the 90 degree rotation positions and saw <1mm of movement. At the 5' distance of my focal length, the dot's movement on rotation was not noticeable.
I compared the laser with the Catseye collimation tools, and NOW the laser agreed with the passive tools. Plus, the return beam from the primary went straight down the throat of the out-going beam and wasn't even visible on the face of the 45 degree grid except as a trace of glow around the laser source.
Since I do not completely realign my secondary every time out (you still need a sight tube to set the rotation and uptube-downtube position of the secondary), the laser allows me to dial in the secondary tilt quickly, after which I use the Cheshire and Autocollimator to accurately collimate the scope.
The laser can effectively replace the sight tube, AFTER initial secondary alignment using a sight tube, but it cannot be easily barlowed (due to its 45 degree face), so its ability to accurately align the primary is not up to cheshire standards.
Nonetheless, I still use it in the middle of the night to check collimation, and I have used it on some other people's scopes, in the middle of the night, to check theirs.
It's a nice laser, but I suspect that the Glatter laser is better machined and aligned from the factory.
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Don Pensack
www.EyepiecesEtc.com
12.5" Teeter/Zambuto, 5" Maksutov
Sustaining Lifetime IDA member
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Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 19246
Loc: Brooker, FL
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I think lotus1 is referring to a different collimator - the one for the SCTs.
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N11GPS Fastar//TOA-130S//MK66 Std//AT6RC//Vintage C5//Megrez II 80mm APO//SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II//Sirius EQ-G
Too Many Astro-Cameras//Mallincam Color Hyper Plus
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Casey and Nelson
Lot 19 Deerlick Astronomy Village (Canis Major)
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
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Starman1
Vendor (EyepiecesEtc.com)
Reged: 06/24/03
Posts: 17639
Loc: Los Angeles
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Oops. Sorry.
Spending money for an SCT collimation tool is unnecessary when Polaris is there. It's the perfect brightness and location to make collimation a snap. I used Polaris to collimate my SCT for 11 years, and it never failed to work well.
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Don Pensack
www.EyepiecesEtc.com
12.5" Teeter/Zambuto, 5" Maksutov
Sustaining Lifetime IDA member
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bkushner
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/26/06
Posts: 1807
Loc: Audubon New Jersey
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Is there any video guides available for collimating an SCT. I found one on Reflectors and it helped immensely.
Brian
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Orion XT12i
Meade LX200 ACF
Ioptron Mini Tower
Orion EON80
Mallincam Hyper Plus
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Starman1
Vendor (EyepiecesEtc.com)
Reged: 06/24/03
Posts: 17639
Loc: Los Angeles
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http://www.asterism.org/tutorials/tut14-1.htm
http://www.mira.org/ascc/pages/lectures/collim.htm
These will help.
Collimating an SCT is the easiest collimation of any scope, so take heart in the knowledge that it won't be hard to learn or do.
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Don Pensack
www.EyepiecesEtc.com
12.5" Teeter/Zambuto, 5" Maksutov
Sustaining Lifetime IDA member
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wky46
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/12/05
Posts: 1934
Loc: west Ky.
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Don, the collimation guide link has been brought up before, but I'd been unable to find it. Thanks for bringing it up again. Phil
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10" Meade LX50 / Televue 32mm Plössl / Televue 41mm Panoptic / Baader Solar Film Cell / Garrett Gemini LW 20x80 / Nikon AE 10x50 - '96 Guild X170 Manhattan AB / '11 Guild D-55 / '96 Fender 'Twin Amp' / '96 Fender 'Blues Deluxe'
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krackerjack9
professor emeritus
Reged: 04/17/06
Posts: 611
Loc: LSA Anaconda, Iraq
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I wish I could collimate mine. I have never been able to get it even close. So has any one used the Kendrick on a SCT like a Nexstar 11inGPS?? If so did it work.. I need to get my telescope out in the nighttime air..
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LSA Anaconda, Iraq
WO 66ED,Sirus 32mm, Orion Diagonal,10mm Celestron,25mm Possl [ Blair S.] Greensboro,NC WO 66APO Patriot
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WO 1.25 Diagonal , 6mm Radian,4mmTMB, 40mm Meade 5000, 26mm and 32mm QX Meade, and some other stuff my Credit Card has been buying against my will, haha
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Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 19246
Loc: Brooker, FL
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I've used the Digi-Tec (discontinued) and it's extremely fiddly to use. Star collimation is much, much easier (use Polaris), as is an artificial star.
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N11GPS Fastar//TOA-130S//MK66 Std//AT6RC//Vintage C5//Megrez II 80mm APO//SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II//Sirius EQ-G
Too Many Astro-Cameras//Mallincam Color Hyper Plus
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Casey and Nelson
Lot 19 Deerlick Astronomy Village (Canis Major)
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
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rmollise
Postmaster
Reged: 07/06/07
Posts: 12033
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Quote:
Sorry for cross posting this one but I'm curios. Has any one used this, if so , is it any good? Kendrick SCT coll.
Yes, I've tried one. Wasn't impressed. Despite me exercising care, the collimation it delivered was only fair to middling. I can do much better in five minutes with (free) Polaris. Now, this was some years back; maybe this one has been improved...but if it were a whiz at collimatin' I would guess I would have heard about it.
Nobody has cracked the SCT-laser code yet, but that don't mean somebody won't someday.
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Uncle Rod
Rod's Latest Book:
Choosing and Using a New CAT
Uncle Rod's Astroblog: http://uncle-rods.blogspot.com/
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