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I had “issues” with my Tak TOA 130 a while back. The rear element of the triplet was loose, and I found the collimating screws all over the place. I was also ‘stranded’ in the wilds of Laos and didn’t have access to anything sophisticated.
I eventually got the scope collimated to my satisfaction after some weeks of experimentation and frustration.
What I noted at one stage, using a Howie Glatter laser colimator, was that I could see the individual reflections off each of the three elements back onto the colimator at the focuser. There was a difference in brightness in the reflected images but as part of the alignment process I could adjust the elements to each reflect back to the centre of the focuser.
I’m guessing that if you can adjust the elements separately, you might try for that alignment also.
In my case, the two front elements were/are locked together into a single cell. The rear element can be adjusted separately. While getting the reflections to align at the same point in the centre of the focuser is one thing, I also had to experiment basically trial and error with the separation between the front cell (two elements locked together) and the rear element. This was extremely finicky. With only a fraction of a turn on the collimating screws to move through the correct collimation setting.
For the Tak, the laser collimator was only a starting point. The ‘real’ fine alignment had to be done using an artificial Star.
HTH, Brian
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