Local help rqd

[gel]

ive got the 8"dob,ive got the cheshire,ive got the laser collimater and guess what:i am a suck at collimating,ive bieng trying for the last 2 weekends and for the life of me its all circles within circles my friends and i just CANT get them centred,so im appealing to a Manly local(or neighbour)to come around and twiddle those screws and end my agony.by the way ive read all the instructions ,seen the video and also scratched my head-regards gel

[[1ponders]]

Which Manyl gel? Brisvegas or Sydneysider

[gel]

Im in Manly Sydney right on the ocean side by the Queenscliff bridge.

[gel]

look ill keep on trying ,i feel as tho i can only go so far and when i do i take it outside and jupiter is blurry, more so than ive ever seen it in the last 10 months, i should never have bought the cheshire and tried to do it myself,all the words do not compensate for the fact i CANT get it to even where it was 3 weeks ago,ill perservere for saturns sake

[iceman]

Steve from MyAstroShop lives close to you, although i'm not sure if you bought the dob from him, he may be able to help you out if you take your scope to him, he could show you how to collimate properly.

Alternatively, come up to Kulnura next new moon and there'll be plenty of guys there willing to help you out. It's only an hour away from you.

[gel]

thanks , ill keep on perservering, saturn is still a while away yet

[wavelandscott]

Not sure where you bought your gear from but when I bought my first scope from Bintel, I asked for a quick "show me how" and they obliged right there on their show room floor with a scope just like the one I bought...

While I had read the how to and watched the video on Andy "something or others" website (I can not seem to find my link to the site now...sorry)...I still found it helpful to see it and do it with someone experienced there beside me.

Their new Sydney store is in Glebe just down from the Fish Markets

I live in Roseville (near Chatswood) if I can be helpful let me know...

While I will not claim to be a "collimater extrodanaire" I can complete the task functionally and give myself a passing grade :P

Good Luck!

[jjjnettie]

Good luck with it Gel.
I'm sure it won't take too much longer for you to get your head around it.

[John K]

When I built my first telescope, a 10" Dob many years ago, I had never collimated a telescope nor did I have a Chesire.
Not sure that this will work for you nor that this is correct, and I am sure the pureist will scathe me! but this is what I did.
First simply centre the secondary so that it looks centred in relation to the focuser. Rack the focuse right back and stand back as this helps. Then adjust the primary so that the primary looks centred through the focuser. Take out in the evening and defocus on a bright star. Use the concetric rings of the defocused star to tweak the primary so that all the rings are perfectly circular.
There is nothing worse than having a new toy and not being able to use it!Good luck and happy observing!

[janoskiss]

John, Collimating from scratch by star test is going to be a lot more difficult than using a Cheshire.

And I think you're confusing poor gel even more here:

I think you meant "Then adjust the secondary ..." ? :)

[John K]

Just sharing the way I have done it in the past (which as I said may not be the best method but which I found simple for me).
Adjust the secondary first.
Then the primary.
Then fine tune the primary with the star test.

[ving]

when all is said and done gel, in your f6 8 inch close is good enough for just looking thru :)
jupiter is getting closer to the horizon now and we are haing to look thru more atmosphere to see it, this means that its not looking as good as it did in the past. also jupiter is moving away so it is getting smaller. :)
the seeing has been pretty bad lately too.

[rmcpb]

Gel, Are you a member of your local astro society?? May be worth a visit to get some local expertise for help. Otherwise its the IIS observing night on the new moon.

[janoskiss]

I've split the discussion about collimation and secondary offset to a new thread: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=13719

[gel]

im off work for a week in a weeks time ,so ill sus out astronomy online and see wether glen will give me a lesson-regards everybody