Quote:
Originally Posted by multiweb
A laser collimator is handy to do a quick alignment but a cheshire is needed to do a precise alignment. I bought a kit from http://www.catseyecollimation.com/ a while back. Money well spent. |
This is the best information given so far in this thread.
A laser collimator on its own is not capable of properly collimating a telescope from scratch. It is only suitable for adjusting the primary and secondary mirror tilts. In other words touch ups on an "almost" collimated telescope. The laser is not capable of helping with the lateral positioning of the secondary mirror, or its rotation. Note, that once these adjustments are correct they rarely have to be adjusted again. The laser is handy once these adjustments are made and known to be correct. More importantly, with a laser collimator the secondary mirror and primary mirror tilts can be adjusted so as the telescope "appears" collimated, when in fact it is way out because the lateral positioning and or the rotation of the secondary mirror is out. Someone that is very experienced in collimating newtonians can "eyeball" the secondary and get it right, thus allowing them to get away with "just owning a laser". This isn't something for anyone that is not very experienced in collimation IMO.
Cheers,
John B