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Hi Guys,
I too have a Kendrick SCT collimator. I, however have used mine to try to collimate the scope (8" Meade SCT). After a couple of emails to Jim Kendrick, I got the device to work, and it does work!! After collimation with the laser I did a star test, and although I couldn't see any Airy rings as the seeing has not been the best lately I'm pretty sure the collimation is fine. As an aside, it was fine to begin with, but it's nice to have two methods confirm it's OK.
Anyway the main problem with the kendrick unit is the low intensity of the laser beam, the refocussed spot on the target is not very bright, and a long way away, it's impossible to see from the distance you are away. The first trick is to get hold of a camcorder with nightvision capabilities, at max zoom I could see when the spot came into focus, though I couldn't make out the target until I walked up to it (I did quite a lot of walking that night). Without the camcorder it'd be impossible with one person. Now for the next part, the return beam is supposed to hit the bevelled target on the collimator, nope mine hits the baffles of the SCT :-(
The next trick is to use a small CCTV camera mounted near the target and try again.
Cheers
Stuart
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