The virtues of collimating a refractor with diagonal in place

asimov (John) · #1 06-09-2005, 01:29 AM

Ever sinse I bought my 6" refractor, I've been forever trying to collimate it PERFECTLY...It's always been juussst a smidgin out.

The other night, I thought I'd try something different & try collimating with the diagonal in place.

This I did, & the results are great! Perfect collimation finally achieved!

I've also read that this is a 'no-no'...always collimate a refractor without the diagonal etc etc. Well I've been doing that for a few months now. I also 'squared' the focuser. I never take the diagonal off anyways so it's best to collimate with all optical train equipment in place IMO..

johnno · #2 06-09-2005, 03:10 AM

Hi Asimov,
Sounds a good idea to me,
How often do we use a refractor WITHOUT a Diagonal,so it makes sense to me to use one when Collimating.thanks for a Great Idea.
Regards.John