RC Optical Systems

Collimating with the Takahashi Collimating Scope...

Excellent collimation can be achieved using Takahashi's collimating scope and the RCOS T-Threadi-to-AP adapter. The collimation procedure outlined below is the recommended procedure by Takahashi with some modifications by Stan Moore. The steps are best done indoors with the scope pointed at a bright wall or in the observatory during the day freeing up those clear nights! The process requires the secondary mirror be precisely center dotted. And in some cases, the primary baffle tube should be removed.

Collimation Steps:

Ignoring the concentricity of circles, adjust only the secondary tilt-tip so that the marked-spot, shown in blue in Figure 1, is centered in the Takahashi collimation scope. It may be necessary to rotate the collimation scope so that the frosted sighting window is adequately illuminated.
Adjust the spider and/or backplate tilt to get the secondary outside-circle centered in the collimation scope. This is done without adjusting the secondary tilt-tip.
Adjust only the primary tilt-tip concentrating on full concentrics and spider-reflection alignment. The area of concentration is shown in blue in Figure 2.
Examine the collimation. Properly collimated optics should be fully concentric as shown in Figure 3. If steps 2 and 3 required large adjustments it may be necessary to repeat all three steps.

The procedure above can be varied by doing step 3 prior to step 2. However it is very important to do step
1 before proceeding to either step 2 or 3.

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RC Optical Systems, Inc. An Arizona Corporation
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