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Holographic collimators

Started by bschnitzer, 03/24/2006 08:42PM
Posted 03/24/2006 08:42PM Opening Post
I'm thinking of replacing my point laser collimator with the holographic type so that I can better align my classical cassegrain optics. Can anybody shed some light 8) on how well they work?

Bob Schnitzer
Grenville Base Observatory - Haymarket, VA
http://www.grenville-observatory.com
16" f18 Royce Conical Dall-Kirkham
10" f16 Parks/Coulter/Novak/Cave Classical Cassegrain
127mm Orion Starmax Mak-Cas
80mm f15 Meade refractor
40mm Tasco variable power tabletop refractor
DMK 31AF03.AS
DBK 21AF04.AS
Posted 03/24/2006 09:05PM #1
My own experience is that they really help. You
can see the edges of the light cone -- whether
light path in centered on a secondary or corrector
plate, or centered in the tube, etc. The "tick marks"
are great -- you can count them and see how well
things are centered.

The "Barlowed Laser" is also very useful for Newts.
I think one really wants both kinds.
Posted 03/24/2006 09:45PM #2
Bob,
I have the LaserMax and it has a great holographic grid. It helps with aligning the secondary and can be used without a center spot on the primary. You can see the secondary shadow to check the offset and centering of the secondary in the UTA or tube too.
I sold all my other lasers after a while, because I found this one to be the best. I had the Kendrick and Orion as well. Al were collimated properly and worked ok for collimation, but only the Lasermax was useful for the rest of the optical jobs.

[SIZE="Large"][/SIZE][COLOR="Blue"][/COLOR] Floyd Blue grin
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