Binocular collimation

[louie_the_fly]

I need to collimate my bino's because I'm seeing double, but I can't find any adjustment screws on the outside. They are King 10x50's. There is a small screw under each front cover, but all they do is secure the clips that hold the prisms in. They have a cast body with no rubber coating - so no hidden screws.

Any advice?

[dannat]

you'll prob need to take the ep's off & remove the back plate (which has king 10x50) written on it -most likely oyull need to adjust the prism tilt screws

[mental4astro]

No need to remove the eyepieces.

Under the rubber molding you will find a little grub screw. These are the collimation adjustment screws. Do not remove the eyepieces or the prism casing.

To lift the rubber molding, you will need a Stanley knife or scalpel. Carefully cut along the egde of the molding/body junction & lift the molding. A little at a time until you find the grub screw. It is usually located at the eyepiece end of the casing.

Mark one side of the screw head with a white marker & the casing so you know where start point is of the turning process. Then at night, using a bright star, see how out of alignment the binos are. Then with an allen key or slotted jewellers screwdriver, give ONE grub screw a 1/4 twist & recheck collimation with the star. If the image has improved, twist the OTHER screw in the opposite direction & recheck.

if the alignment has worsened, twist the FIRST screw in the other direction a 1/4 turn past the start mark & recheck, following the procedure above until you get a single image.

To reattach the molding, use a little silicone glue. Just a little in case you should need to readjust the collimation some time.

Collimating binos is not hard, just a little time consuming.

Mental.

[mental4astro]

Nothing quite like a photo to show what I am rabbiting about...

Took my own binos out an lift the flap of one side to reveal the collimation grub screw I am talking about. There is a corresponding screw on the other casing.

Now, thinking about Daniel's reply, I do now remember that there are some old bino designs where the collimation screws are accessed via opening the prism casing. This is not an easy method as it means needing to adjust, re-assemble the binos, check, then if still out, re-do the whole process.

Mental.

[louie_the_fly]

Thanks guys. Yes Mental, they're the screws I was looking for but I couldn't find them. Mine doesn't seem to have any. It doesn't have rubber coatings on the bodies. I think I might have to take the EP's off and check it out.

There was another reply on here earlier but it appears to have been removed. What happened there?

[mental4astro]

The pimplely surface on the casing body I can see in your picture is the rubber molding. Have you lift off this?

You need to decide then if opening the casing is the right approach. The reason I say this is opening the casing allows dust to get in. This one reason why the design change to an external adjustment screw.

[The Mekon]

Some binoculars have eccentric rings for the objectives. You need to remove the locking ring, then twist the eccentric ring to collimate. Very cheap binoculars have no simple means of collimating.

The first thing to do in your case is see that the objective bell housing is seated correctly.

[louie_the_fly]

I think I might have sorted it. Still didn't find any collimation screws. But I took a few bits apart and gave it all a good clean. Put back together and it seems a lot better. I'll give them a try tonight and see how they go. Think I'll save up for a decent pair now.

Thanks for all your help.:thumbsup:

[dannat]

yours is an older model japanese bino -they didnt put little screws under the rubber (thats a chinese thing) you had to take it apart from the ep end (the eccentric ring objectives are not that common & limited to a few models-like the early fuji's or some german models)
once apart youll see little screws pushing against the prisms-it is these youll need to tweak
firstly though is it easier to try & ascertain which barrel is the offending one..look thru the bino & swing thru the ipd range -then turn the bino upside down & turn it thru the range again.the barrel which moves against a background object (eg fence) is the offending one
adjusting the correctly aligned prism will likely spell disaster

[louie_the_fly]

Thanks for that advice Daniel. I thought I had fixed it. Is a little better, but the right side seems to be a bit out still. I'll have a crack at what you suggested.

[dannat]

I see you have a 8" SCT -do you have a green laser pointer also? if yes PM me & ill describe a method to you (sorry I can't write it publicly -have been asked not to by the person I got the info off)

[louie_the_fly]

Daniel, PM sent.