Ashraf AbuSara:
I finally put my Ocal V3 without the corrector with the stock focuser in preperation for upgrading to the Optec Leo Focuser. I have not touched collimation since I purchased the E160ED from Takahashi and picked it up my self. Been imaging with it for a few weeks. Here is what I got. Are the circles drawn where they are supposed to?
Looks pretty darn close to me? Pretty close indeed. Your focuser circle looks great. To better evaluate the primary and secondary you need to zoom, adjust focus of the OCAL, and increase exposure time a little to make the area brighter. But from what I can see the both circles are a is a little it off. I find aligning the primary to be easier using the crosshair as my reference. Its easier to judge than the circle alone. You may also try using brighter colors for the those 2 circles as I find the additional contrast makes it easier to judge positioning like this: Its not shown here but I've settled on yellow secondary circle and black for the primary circle. Reg Pratt:
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I cannot seem to get the Ocal Max V3 to the same level of clarity you have in your screenshots. The corrector is not installed this is straight into the stock focuser. I am using my Wanderer astro flat panel to illuminate the OTA. The concentric circles I am seeing in my 160ED seem to have a different variety of widths than yours.   |
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Reg Pratt:
Ashraf AbuSara:
I finally put my Ocal V3 without the corrector with the stock focuser in preperation for upgrading to the Optec Leo Focuser. I have not touched collimation since I purchased the E160ED from Takahashi and picked it up my self. Been imaging with it for a few weeks. Here is what I got. Are the circles drawn where they are supposed to?
Looks pretty darn close to me?
Pretty close indeed. Your focuser circle looks great. To better evaluate the primary and secondary you need to zoom, adjust focus of the OCAL, and increase exposure time a little to make the area brighter. But from what I can see the both circles are a is a little it off. I find aligning the primary to be easier using the crosshair as my reference. Its easier to judge than the circle alone. You may also try using brighter colors for the those 2 circles as I find the additional contrast makes it easier to judge positioning like this:
Its not shown here but I've settled on yellow secondary circle and black for the primary circle.
Reg Pratt:
That level of clarity in your ocal is much better. Maybe I need to try natural light instead of the flat panel. I am not planning on adjusting the collimation right now. I know my stars are good enough for an APS-C. I just want to create a frame of reference for when I install the optec leo focuser to make sure I have it at the same level of tilt as the Takahashi focuser to know where I am starting before making any further adjustments.
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I went ahead and switched to the Ocal2. Changed the calibration code to the appropriate one. The clarity is surprisingly better. Not sure what is wrong with the V3 version. I tried to orient both the same way but there were some differences.   |
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@Ashraf AbuSara what's going on is the focuser of the v3 can have a hard time fighting gravity to focus. If you orient the OTA so that the OCAL is position diagonally or horizontally you'll be a is to fully focus on the eyepiece.
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Reg Pratt:
@Ashraf AbuSara what's going on is the focuser of the v3 can have a hard time fighting gravity to focus. If you orient the OTA so that the OCAL is position diagonally or horizontally you'll be a is to fully focus on the eyepiece. Great tip! Thank you I will give it a shot.
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Reg Pratt:
@Ashraf AbuSara what's going on is the focuser of the v3 can have a hard time fighting gravity to focus. If you orient the OTA so that the OCAL is position diagonally or horizontally you'll be a is to fully focus on the eyepiece. Great tip! Thank you I will give it a shot and report back.
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Ashraf AbuSara:
I find it hard to see where the primary marker ring is and the central secondary dot is, vs the eye piece circle. You dont really need to concern yourself with the secondary spot beyond the initial step of centering the secondary under the focuser. For the secondary adjustment just use the black primary circle as your reference. Make the ocal circle concentric with it. Then for your primary adjustment use larger circle and/or the crosshair with the silver boarder of the eyepiece as your reference.
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Installed the Optec Leo focuser, and I already see an issue. The end of the draw tube threads are more coarse spirals, and there is no clear uniform circular edge. Any suggestions on what to use as the reference point?  |
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@Ashraf AbuSara Zoom in more and change your circle color to something more contrasty like yellow or red. You could try using the line before the threads start as your reference instead  In any even I wouldn't obsess too much over it. When at max zoom any error is going to be smaller than one could ever hope to detect with the naked eye through a cheshire or similar collimation tool.
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Thanks so much for the help Reg. Really appreciate the time you are using respond. After turning on and off the Ocal it seemed to focus much better. No idea why it is horizontal. I *think* I can see the edge of the draw tube:   Not going to obsess too much about it like you said. Amazingly the secondary dot / focuser center looks good, and the primary mirror I think looks good. I issue I think is I need to adjust the secondary tip/tilt because the primary mirror marker circle is definitely off. Do you agree?  |
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@Ashraf AbuSara I should have mentioned before that increasing the exposure of the OCAL and thereby making the drawtube brighter may also help distinguish the edges. For your focuser circle it looks like there is a gap on the left side. I cant really tell if that is actually a cap or if that side of the drawtube has a shadow. Maybe increasing the OCAL exposure will make that more clear. Your primary crosshair looks great but you are correct that you need to adjust the secondary so that the black primary circle us concentric with the blue ring. Once that is done you will need to redo your primary adjustment as well because moving the secondary changes the primary collimation. Your final result should look like this Reg Pratt:
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Reg Pratt:
If anyone out there is a visual learner and wants a video of the procedure let me know and I'd be happy to record one. yes please!
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Dunk:
Reg Pratt:
If anyone out there is a visual learner and wants a video of the procedure let me know and I'd be happy to record one.
yes please! I second that!
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@Ashraf AbuSara Looks really good nice job!
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Reg Pratt:
@Ashraf AbuSara Looks really good nice job! Thanks Reg! Here is a quick star test. This was an Ha filter and a 300s sub. To me, collimation looks good as evidenced by the essentially pinpoint stars, but I have quite a bit of tilt and perhaps backfocus problems, which I plan to deal with once I get the ASG photon cage. What do you think? Edit: BTW this is a 6200mm/ full frame on the 1.5x extender.  |
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@Ashraf AbuSara I would load some subs into Hocus Focus and see what it has to say. It will advise on tilt and backfocus error.
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Reg Pratt:
@Ashraf AbuSara I would load some subs into Hocus Focus and see what it has to say. It will advise on tilt and backfocus error. Thanks Reg. That was going to be my next step on the next clear night. Waiting on an ASG Photon cage to get this straightened out.
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Reg Pratt:
@Ashraf AbuSara I would load some subs into Hocus Focus and see what it has to say. It will advise on tilt and backfocus error. Something that is really giving me a headache is that anytime I take the camera out and put it back in a different orientation, and tighten the locking eyepiece ring, the collimation appears to shift. Even I go ahead and change the offset to what I think best fits the edge of the focuser, it still looks like it is significantly off in the center. I don't understand how that could be... Is it because of bad tilt in the focuser? This is on the optec leo.
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Reg Pratt:
Mind you I've only been using the scope for about 2 weeks now. In that time I've gathered close to 30 hours worth of data and have had zero issues with the stock focuser or EAF. I've been told that the 130 focuser has been updated recently and is much better than the old once. I've not experienced any rigidity issues at all. The EAF doesn't come with the required coupler though. You can grab the needed 5mm to 8mm flex coupler from Amazon for very cheap.
 Hello  Where did you get the information that the focuser has received an update? Are there any details about what has been improved? CS Gernot
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Reg Pratt:
Mind you I've only been using the scope for about 2 weeks now. In that time I've gathered close to 30 hours worth of data and have had zero issues with the stock focuser or EAF. I've been told that the 130 focuser has been updated recently and is much better than the old once. I've not experienced any rigidity issues at all. The EAF doesn't come with the required coupler though. You can grab the needed 5mm to 8mm flex coupler from Amazon for very cheap.
Hello
Where did you get the information that the focuser has received an update? Are there any details about what has been improved?
CS Gernot
I heard it second hand from my buddy who got the 130 before I did. He was told by a Takahashi Japan rep.
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Reg Pratt:
Reg Pratt:
Mind you I've only been using the scope for about 2 weeks now. In that time I've gathered close to 30 hours worth of data and have had zero issues with the stock focuser or EAF. I've been told that the 130 focuser has been updated recently and is much better than the old once. I've not experienced any rigidity issues at all. The EAF doesn't come with the required coupler though. You can grab the needed 5mm to 8mm flex coupler from Amazon for very cheap.
Hello
Where did you get the information that the focuser has received an update? Are there any details about what has been improved?
CS Gernot
I heard it second hand from my buddy who got the 130 before I did. He was told by a Takahashi Japan rep. Thanks for the info I got my 130 E in May and moving the rotator by 90 degrees (APSC) does not degrade the star quality. CS Gernot
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