Optical cleaning and collimation

[IanL]

Folks any one know of anywhere in the Australia that cleans primary and seconday mirrors also recollimates them as well. My tak is out of collimation and i don't want to touch it. So i thought i might as well get the mirrors cleaned at the same time.

Ian

[Satchmo]

I think Don Whiteman at Binocular and Telescope Shop does a great job of cleaning and collimating telescopes. From memory they have a 10" collimated beam for collimated light source.

[Dennis]

Hi Ian

On the next clear night when we are both free, you are welcome to drop by our place and we could have a go at collimating the 'scope?

Might even get to try the Kendrick SCT collimator which I have not yet used.

Cheers

Dennis

[IanL]

Dennis many thanks for the offer. But i have already arranged to have the scope sent back to Takahashi to have mirrors cleaned and recollimated.

Thanks for the offer Dennis

Cheers
Ian

[Dennis]

No worries Ian. With the current Brisbane weather patterns, it looks like it’s going to be astronomy indoors only, for a while!

Cheers

Dennis

[rodroger (Rodney)]

Hi,
Just letting you know that York Optical at 316 St Pauls Terrace PH-:07 32522061, will collimate your scope, they quoted me $60.00 to spot the primary and collimate a 150mm/750 Newt. (Don't ring but E-mail them for quote!- see link on your right)
My advise though is to learn how to do this yourself, this is as well a cleaning the mirrors. Once you know how - it is simple - see section in projects & Articles on cleaning etc(if you require distilled water I have plenty to share). I just finished spotting, cleaning and collimating my short tube 150mm/f9 (which are quite tricky because of the corrector lens and its degree of precision it requires.
I have a Celestron Combination cheshire/sight tube as well as a Saxon Laser Collimator, I also am buying one of Jim Fly's Catseye's. You are quite welcome to drop around if in the area and I will show you how to go about it. It can be quite frustrating to the newbie as I just found out.

[iceman (Mike)]

Collimation is a skill all newt owners need to learn. To pay for it is overkill in my opinion. Take yourself and your scope to a star party or astronomical society viewing night, and you'll get advice from experts who'll do it for free! And you'll learn too, which is much more important.

[rodroger (Rodney)]

Just another point here Ian, where i the scope being sent (how far and by what method)??

If it is going by courier or post there is a 98% chance the collimation will slip a bit in transport after the re-collimation. I stongly suggest if you are paying for the service that you pick the scope up yourself from the shop, if possible.

I have had five scopes, all newts delivered to me by Australia post (E-bay)and every single one needs to be re-collimated! Rough handling, I have seen couriers drop large boxes etc regardless what warning labels are evident! My new 150mm/f9 was dropped to the ground by the posty taking it out of the van when he delivered it, I saw him do it and it had Fragile in large lettering all over the box. Gave me a hell of a problem in re-collimating, but also this Is the one made me do the research on the subject and ask questons, taught me how to collimate a Newt.