Collimating screws on Skywatcher Pro 180 help

[aerobrake (Michael)]

Hi everyone,

I've got a skywatcher pro 180 mak and need to collimate it but have lost the instructions and dunno what the 3 sets of screws on the back of the scope do. One obviously moves the mirror and the other locks it in place but I have no idea which is which.

Also do I need to loosen all the locking screws and collimate and then relighted them all or only loosen the lock associated with the collimating screw that I'm using if I need to adjust only one of em, hope that makes sense.

Look forward to any help and I'm getting desperate to get the scope out for some photography as its been ages since I've done any scoping.

Cheers
Mike

[Chris85 (Chris)]

Hi Mike, it seems the smaller holes are for the locking screws? Well according to this post anyway :-) www.iceinspace.com.au/41-380-0-0-1-0.html
All the best,
Chris

[g__day (Matthew)]

I would google a far bit before trying to collimate a MAK, I seem to recall reading they are more challenging than an SCT or Newtonian.

The best option might be to take it to Bintel in Glebe and get them to do it or teach you how; is that an option for you?

[Steffen]

Maks are very straightforward to collimate, since you can (usually) be at the eyepiece and reach the collimations screws at the same time. You do need an artificial star (or a very steady night). Looking at the defocused star images it is very easy to eliminate coma, which is the outcome you want.

Hotech offer a cassegrain laser collimator, but that seems grotesquely overblown and full of collimation issues in itself.

Cheers
Steffen.

[aerobrake (Michael)]

Just realised the Orion 180 mak is the same beast and was able to download a set of instructions.

Thanks for the input guys.

Cheers
Mike