Man, I have been working for quite a while to get my three laser collimator's to be exactly aligned with one another. I finally got there today after one last hour of adjustments. LaserMax, Kendrick’s and the Orion Lasermate are the three that I own.
Now you could say I am being picky about this, but it always bugged me to see that the 3 would just not quite pick the same point. It was always a tiny bit off. The problem with that is that one is right and the other is wrong and which is which?
So I have been working with them for a couple of months. I always get tired after an hour or so and I just quit and come back to it later.
I really like the Kendrick for the 45° angled face and star burst cuts that make perfect alignment easy.
I like the LaserMax for setting up optical alignment because of the laser grid that it has. This makes setting up a secondary or even a focuser easier.
The Orion Lasermate is just a lightweight 1.25" for smaller scopes, it does not affect balance as much and does not make loose focuser's shift so badly as the heavier other two lasers.
I must say that it is not an easy task to align these things. It takes time and patients to get it right. Just one turn of the wrong screw and "BAM" your out of alignment! But once they are properly aligned they do a fine job of getting that collimation right on the money.
July 4th there were so many fireworks going off that I was able to see the laser going though the air in the scope! It was pretty cool because it allowed me to see the beam in perfect alignment. It was amazing to see that tiny beam striking the exact same spot and following the same path through the air. I don't recommend it though because it made for very lousy seeing.
I have thought about writing an article and review concerning this procedure, but not sure that it would be well received. Maybe I will anyway.
For those who have not checked their Lasers for collimation, I recommend that you do so before your next outing. You might be surprised how far off it really is when you check it out.
Floyd
Now you could say I am being picky about this, but it always bugged me to see that the 3 would just not quite pick the same point. It was always a tiny bit off. The problem with that is that one is right and the other is wrong and which is which?
So I have been working with them for a couple of months. I always get tired after an hour or so and I just quit and come back to it later.
I really like the Kendrick for the 45° angled face and star burst cuts that make perfect alignment easy.
I like the LaserMax for setting up optical alignment because of the laser grid that it has. This makes setting up a secondary or even a focuser easier.
The Orion Lasermate is just a lightweight 1.25" for smaller scopes, it does not affect balance as much and does not make loose focuser's shift so badly as the heavier other two lasers.
I must say that it is not an easy task to align these things. It takes time and patients to get it right. Just one turn of the wrong screw and "BAM" your out of alignment! But once they are properly aligned they do a fine job of getting that collimation right on the money.
July 4th there were so many fireworks going off that I was able to see the laser going though the air in the scope! It was pretty cool because it allowed me to see the beam in perfect alignment. It was amazing to see that tiny beam striking the exact same spot and following the same path through the air. I don't recommend it though because it made for very lousy seeing.
I have thought about writing an article and review concerning this procedure, but not sure that it would be well received. Maybe I will anyway.
For those who have not checked their Lasers for collimation, I recommend that you do so before your next outing. You might be surprised how far off it really is when you check it out.
Floyd
[SIZE="Large"][/SIZE][COLOR="Blue"][/COLOR] Floyd Blue
Amateur Imager
