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Lego Laser Collimator Collimation Stand

Started by aznights , May 10 2012 11:35 PM

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36 replies to this topic

#1 aznights

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Posted 10 May 2012 - 11:35 PM

I was able to collimate my laser collimator with a stand that I made from some Lego blocks borrowed from my son. It worked very well! This should be easy enough for anyone to put together.

http://i.imgur.com/YzD1P.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/yl1Xk.jpg

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#2 tensegrity

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 02:01 AM

Genius!

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#3 johnnyha

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 02:07 AM

That made me happy. Thanks.

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#4 Scott in NC

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 06:44 AM

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#5 Vondragonnoggin

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 07:37 AM

Too cool!

Legos rule.

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#6 turtle86

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 07:54 AM

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#7 Smittty692k4

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 08:04 AM

I love Legos. Got my son hooked on them now. But boy the prices have gone up.

Thanks for the pic AZ.

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#8 aznights

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 08:58 AM

Well, after I was reading an article online about problems with laser collimators being out of collimation. I did a quick eyeball test with mine by holding it real still and turning it, and I found I was drawing a circle about 10" in diameter on the wall. I looked around for materials to make a stand to hold it steady to try to fix this, but came up empty. I asked my wife if we had something that matched a description of what I was looking for and she was picking up my son's Legos and putting them all away when she came back with "Is this something you could make out of Legos?" As soon as she said that- I started building. This worked surprisingly well, now my collimator is spot-on and is no longer drawing large circles on the wall. I can't wait to re-collimate my scope this weekend.

By the way, I plan on coming out to the Cherry Rd site (in AZ) for my first Star Party as perhaps the newest member of the Saguaro Astronomy Club. I'm very much looking forward to it.

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#9 Stew57

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 09:02 AM

need a couple of Lego men to turn the laser. Nice job.

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#10 aznights

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 09:25 AM

HA! I wish I had thought of including that in the picture.

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#11 zjc26138

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 11:48 AM

Sweet!

Gotta love Legos. :bow:

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#12 ThreeD

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 01:29 PM

Great idea. For a challenge, how about using Mindstorms/NXT parts to automate the process...

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#13 Darenwh

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 01:35 PM

I wonder how soon Lego will come out with a kit for this....

Very good idea...

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#14 aznights

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 05:10 PM

I'm going to start selling these as a kit in the classifieds section. Only $99! Any takers? LOL- just kidding.

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#15 Scott in NC

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 05:58 PM

All's good until your son wants his Legos back! :lol:

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#16 tecmage

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 06:49 PM

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#17 Scott in NC

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 06:52 PM

Well Richard, being the dad of a 9-year-old son who is really into Legos (especially the Star Wars Lego sets), I'm actually speaking from experience here! :lol:

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#18 aznights

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 07:20 PM

Well, I just found that my laser collimation stand is now a spaceship.

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#19 Scott in NC

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 08:15 PM

I knew it couldn't last! :lol:

Good thing you posted a pic so you can easily rebuild it if needed.

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#20 csa/montana

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Posted 11 May 2012 - 10:38 PM

Well, I just found that my laser collimation stand is now a spaceship.

Otherwise, the legos were confiscated by the rightful owner. :lol:

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#21 Zul

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Posted 12 May 2012 - 11:40 AM

Hehe thats creative

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#22 Doc Willie

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Posted 12 May 2012 - 11:42 PM

So, what other astronomy equipment can we build out of Legos? Get to work, guys.

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#23 Scott in NC

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Posted 13 May 2012 - 01:23 AM

So, what other astronomy equipment can we build out of Legos? Get to work, guys.

Well, I thought about building a 20" truss dob structure, but given the cost of Legos, using more traditional materials might actually be cheaper! :lol: