I'm looking for some input from people experienced with collimating Newtonians with Catseye Collimation equipment. I've been tweaking the collimation on my Meade LXD55 SN10 but can't seem to get the hotspots to stack properly in the Infinity XLP offset pupil view.
This all started because I wanted to replace the stock plastic focuser with a Moonlite. As I had to remove the corrector plate cell/secondary to install the new focuser, I went to a lot of trouble to collimate the focuser by carefully determining (measuring around the tube) the point opposite the centre point of the focuser and adjusting the collimation using the Teletube cross hairs. While the scope was in pieces I also respotted the primary mirror with a Catseye Hotspot. I also checked the secondary offset - checked measurements according to this:
http://www.mikeblaber.org/sn10collimation.htm
I've managed to take some photos this morning that show where I've got to:
View through Teletube XL: pictures 1-3
View through Blackcat: picture 4
View through Infinity XLP centre pupil: picture 5
View through Infinity XLP offset pupil: picture 6
To me it appears the secondary rotation is ok (all mirror clips visible in image 3 however I can't seem to get the centre and offset pupil images to stack properly. I'm also wondering about the silver reflection at the left hand edge of the secondary mirror in the Blackcat image 4.
Any advice greatly appreciated.
Peter