How To Align Your Laser Collimator: The Step By Step Guide For Telescope Users

This video shows you how to align (collimate) the laser in your telescope laser collimator.
#telescope #laser #collimator
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KZbin NOTES:
1) This video complies with the KZbin Community Guidelines and Terms of Service.
2) Soundtracks used with permission from my video editor, Camtasia, and from KZbin's AudioLibrary. Sound effects are also from the KZbin AudioLibrary.
3) All products shown were purchased by me with my own money.
4) This video does not contain any children, offensive material or language.
Questions Answered:
1) How do I fix my laser collimator?
2) How do I align the laser in my laser collimator?
3) How to align a svbony laser collimator?
4) How do I align my laser collimator?
5) How do I fix a broken misaligned laser collimator?
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#dobsonian #reflector #telescope #nasa #alignment #collimation #collimate #astronomy #zhumell #celestron #orion

[@skylore8797]

Ive had one of these laser collimators sitting in a junk drawer for a decade. Thanks to this video I can finally use it.

[@reflactor]

Thank you for watching. I'm glad the video could help.

[@bustedrav]

Just a tip, you can use whichever screws you want to adjust the laser, adjust it a fraction of a way towards "center", rotate 90 degrees and repeat, essentially you are spiraling in towards center, you can get this very precise by following this process. It's basically the same process I use daily calibrating optical plummets on surveying tribrachs. You should be able to get it close enough that the actual width of the laser dot is the limiting factor in further adjustment.

[@reflactor]

Thanks for the tip!

[@jackieblank4249]

Colimating a colimator. Atta boy John. Now thats something i didnt know needed to be done. I just use the pin hole tool that came with my scope.Thanks for the tip. Clear skys.

[@reflactor]

Thanks! Yah, I didn't know about it until I accidentally found it. Clear skies!

[@TheFlungpoo23]

Love the Wilhelm Scream you added in during video 😂

[@reflactor]

Haha, thanks! I've heard I have those too loud, so I may try to make them a bit more subtle.

[@leemcdannold]

I think you should get sponsored by a blue painter's tape company! I think I see you use it in every video. Truly versatile stuff.

[@reflactor]

LOL, that is a very good point. I do use a lot of blue painters tape!

[@ziggyfrnds]

Hey thanks! This is the best laser collimation tutorial I've seen. This is one that I can actually do myself :-)

[@reflactor]

Take your time and be careful. It's pretty straight forward. Clears skies!

[@JoeJaguar]

great Video John This will help alot people

[@gabrieletrotta]

You're saving my observing nights, mate!!! Thank you so much!

[@reflactor]

Happy to help. Clear skies!

[@deepskymike767]

Excellent tutorial on collimating laser collimators. I got lucky with the one I got because once I have the laser pointed smack in the middle of the mirrors central ring and spin it in the focuser, it’s stays within the ring. If I ever drop it and have to collimate it I’ll refer back to this video. Top work John 👍

[@reflactor]

Cograts on getting a good one. And thank you for watching. Clear skies!

[@RUSTYMULLENIX-xm5sn]

Another informative video.great as always.

[@reflactor]

Thank you for watching!

[@ricardohdz1987]

I was just going to ask you to do a video about this, most of the videos are so complicated, they buy all kinds of expensive tools and get the same result, great video, thanks

[@reflactor]

I like cheap simple fixes. :) Thank you for watching. Clear skies!

[@ManosZafirakis.ShapeMixStudio]

Wow, great tutorial ! Thank you !

[@reflactor]

Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad it was helpful. Clear skies!

[@ntbarone]

This content is FUNNY! Thanks providing some great info while making us laugh! 😆😆

[@reflactor]

Haha, thank you for watching. Clear skies!

[@laualie9155]

Another great video! I just got an Aperatura 8" dobsonian and the instructions told me the collimator was set at the factory and to leave the adjustment screws alone. A quick check and the collimator was scribing a 3" circle on the wall at about 8'. I'll be putting your video to good use today!

[@reflactor]

I don't think I've ever had one that was collimated correctly from the factory, but I usually buy cheap tools, lol. There are several ways to mount these to check. My video uses a vertical mount, but I've seen others use horizontal mounting. Good luck!

[@andresdelaplaza]

Although the central mark in the primary mirror could have a severe placement error, it's considered good practice that the laser collimator to have a deviation angle of less than 2 arc minutes. This means the radius R of the circle described at a distance L should be less than R = L x tan (2') or L x tan (2/60) which gives: R < L / 1719. Radius R will be in the same units as length L. To be able to really discriminate the circle, distances greater than 5 meters (16 feet) should be seriously considered, mainly because the laser dot is not pointless but could be a spot more than 2 mm in diameter depending on the brand and quality of the laser collimator. Let's consider using a 10 m (33 ft) baseline for this collimation. This will give us a maximum radius of 6mm or 33 x 12/1719= 0,23 inches => ABOUT 1/2 INCH CIRCLE. If the laser is rotated and describes a circle less than 1/2 inch diameter, your laser is very well collimated!👍👍👍👍👍👍🔭🔭🔭🔭🔭🔭😎😎😎😎

[@EvenTheDogAgrees]

This works up to a certain point though, because laser light decoheres with distance.

[@sunpointstudio4472]

I made a cradle with a 3D printer and tested mine horizontal with a 2.5 meter distance. The accuracy was very good so didn't need to adjust it.

[@reflactor]

That's excellent - I wish mind hadn't needed any adjustment. :) Clear skies!

[@jackieblank4249]

Good morning John. Would like to see a video on trouble shooting a push to system with the hand controller and function buttons please. Thanks for the great videos. Peace out and clear sky's.

[@reflactor]

I wish I still had my Orion Push-To, but I had to sell it unfortunately because I was out of room at the time. Push-To's are pretty bullet proof - the only real problems that can happen are with the encoder disk, encoder reader, or the cables. The part that you can control are the altitude (elevation angle from horizontal) and azimuth (swinging right and left). The main troubleshooting tool is in the utilities menu (I think) that shows the readout angles for azimuth and elevation. Set the tube horizontal and go through the setup procedure. Then go into the utility and view the elevation/azimuth. Rotate the tube to vertical and then down to horizontal. Make sure the readouts differ by 90 degrees. Then do the same thing with the right/left swing angle, but you can go from 0 to 90 to 180 (opposite the start angle) 270 and then it should reset itself to 0 when you get back to where it was pointing in the first place. That's how I realized my encoder was slipping on GoTo system many years ago. Good luck!

[@vicamaral]

Brilliant idea, i use 2 V block that machinist use, but i like your idea better with the 4 marking good idea and don't drop the laser again. clear skies

[@reflactor]

The V block idea is a good one! I think one of the advantages of the vertical method though is that it mimics the mating surface contacts. Thanks for watching!

[@citylimitsphoto]

Great video, you should make a video on how to use the laser collminator to collimate. The other ones on KZbin are to intense.

[@reflactor]

That's definitely on my list. I haven't decided on how in-depth to make it. Would you prefer one that just does a "quick laser collimation"?

[@citylimitsphoto]

@@reflactor Just something more to the point along with some basic foundational info on why we need to do this deed would be a good start then do and advance tutorial and build upon the basic concept.

[@denodan]

Get a Howie Galtter laser, will never need collimating. One of the very few that are good.

[@reflactor]

I've not heard of those. I'm going to research them. Thanks!

[@tubedude54]

For 10x the cost of that SvBony collimator it better not need collimation!

[@denodan]

@Rat also those cheap laser collimators are a sloppy fir not accurate at all

[@EvenTheDogAgrees]

6:35: Happily for you, it won't. According to the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act of 1975, a manufacturer may not impose conditions for the warranty to be applicable. Google "warranty void stickers illegal" and you'll find plenty of info; it was a huge thing in tech news a couple of years ago, in the light of the whole Right To Repair movement.

[@hakman239]

Can you do a video on how to collimate a reflector telescope I want to sell mine cos collimation is frustrating

[@reflactor]

Collimation can be one of the trickier things to do. A collimation video is on my list of videos to do. Hang in there. Thank you for watching.

[@hakman239]

@@reflactor Iv currently got my scope on eBay cos the collimation is a pain with 2nd mirror hopefully it’s up in next few days

[@joseportela205]

Nice method, but I have a doubt. I understand that the table where the laser is attached is 100% horizontal, otherwise the results will be wrong. Am I right?

[@reflactor]

Good question. As long as the final dot stays pretty much in the same spot, the angle probably doesn't matter much. It'd just make it a bit trickier to make adjustments?

[@jerometaperman7102]

2:05 - The famed Wilhelm Scream.

[@reflactor]

Haha! You caught it. :)

[@cl6x533]

why not just point it at a mirror and make sure its flat, then just adjust it until it reaches it's center?

[@reflactor]

Do you mean why not just use the center of the existing primary mirror? Good question. In order to make the adjustments fast, you need to mark on the surface you are targeting. For most telescopes that is an unreachable distance.

[@kenh733]

They need to sell a collimator to collimate your collimator

[@reflactor]

Technically that's exactly what I do in this video, lol. Thanks for watching!

[@BariumCobaltNitrog3n]

That looks like a faulty tool that should be returned. You can't return it now.

[@reflactor]

I think it was out of warranty by the time I did this.