ok well had a bit of success today!
took the spider assembly out of the scope and hacksawed off the bottom of the bent screw and used pliers to reverse it out as the thread was a bit marginal and kept slipping. Also used pliers to reverse out the one with the really screwed up thread. Had to use a bit of wd40 as they were pretty darn tight. Took about 20mins and a few 4 letter words but got there in the end.
Bintel had the bobs knobs handy earlier in the week so they are all fitted fine now and the spider and secondary are back in the scope and it's a 20sec job now to get the laser to hit the center dot.
however 2 concerns ;
- As Roger says above, when I rotate the laser pointer it dances around by about 5-8mm
- After adjusting the secondary with the new knobs, I can see the red laser reflected back out into the "eyepiece" off center. i.e. on the collimator/laser pointer there is obviously a hole where the light comes out, but the light does not appear to reflect straight back into that spot.
If I loosen the main screw on the secondary mirror a bit, adjust it so it does go back into that spot (and then retighten) - the laser is now a centimetre or so off the center dot on the primary. And when I recollimate it using the knobs, I'm back to square 1 i.e. the light is not reflecting back exactly where the laser originated.
is this a big deal? hope it makes sense. can take a photo if it doesn't.
Anyway, if it's clear tonight I'll do a star test.
cheers and thanks for the info
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