Takahashi collimation telescope VS TSCOLLIT

Equipment Buying Advice
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Stellar Nomads avatar
Stellar Nomads avatar
Hello folks,

There is a lot of information circulating about these two tools; the Tak side is legendary it seems and the TS side is brand new ( which does not in any way mean it is less).

My question is: which one are you using and how successful are you? Please share your experiences with either/both.

Thank you
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Bill McLaughlin avatar
Bill McLaughlin avatar
Not sure how it would work for an RC since I have not had one for years but for the Epsilon I much prefer the OCAL electronic collimation device.

I have used lasers and the Tak scope and the OCAL and the OCAL was the most consistently reliable.
ArvitZ avatar
ArvitZ avatar
Stellar Nomads:
Hello folks,

There is a lot of information circulating about these two tools; the Tak side is legendary it seems and the TS side is brand new ( which does not in any way mean it is less).

My question is: which one are you using and how successful are you? Please share your experiences with either/both.

Thank you

I used both my Takahashi and the TSRCKOLLI (different than TSCOLLIT) to collimate my RC 8" and to be quite honest I can not recommend both when you really want to pin down the collimation of a RC scope.
To my understanding the main problem is that both of these tools mainly look at alignment of the telescope tube with respect to the mirrors. But I have to face the reality that at least for my GSO telescope the tube is NOT perfectly aligned with the optical axis of my main mirror.
I have used both collimators to have a first rough alignment but the real deal is the star test in the end.
The star test still showed elongated stars in one corner for me and this tells me that the true optical alignment was in my case not possible with both collimators.

After this experience I decided to follow similar guides like the one linked below to achieve the optical alignment with a star field under the night sky. It was a bit of a hustle, but it was the best option. Because otherwise I would have had no other option than getting an expensive collimation laser.

https://astrophotoni.st/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/RC-collimation.pdf
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Wei-Hao Wang avatar
Wei-Hao Wang avatar
ArvitZ:
After this experience I decided to follow similar guides like the one linked below to achieve the optical alignment with a star field under the night sky. It was a bit of a hustle, but it was the best option. Because otherwise I would have had no other option than getting an expensive collimation laser.

https://astrophotoni.st/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/RC-collimation.pdf

For star collimation, this is indeed the easiest one to operate, among all that I have seen.
Stellar Nomads avatar
Stellar Nomads avatar
ArvitZ:
After this experience I decided to follow similar guides like the one linked below to achieve the optical alignment with a star field under the night sky. It was a bit of a hustle, but it was the best option. Because otherwise I would have had no other option than getting an expensive collimation laser.

https://astrophotoni.st/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/RC-collimation.pdf

This why this community is so awesome !!!!! I did not even know this manual existed and I am so thankful you guys shared it.

I am using the 3in TSRCRED, would you recommend I collimate with or without it ?
ArvitZ avatar
ArvitZ avatar
Stellar Nomads:
ArvitZ:
After this experience I decided to follow similar guides like the one linked below to achieve the optical alignment with a star field under the night sky. It was a bit of a hustle, but it was the best option. Because otherwise I would have had no other option than getting an expensive collimation laser.

https://astrophotoni.st/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/RC-collimation.pdf

This why this community is so awesome !!!!! I did not even know this manual existed and I am so thankful you guys shared it.

I am using the 3in TSRCRED, would you recommend I collimate with or without it ?

Glad to see that the community can help

To start of with collimation I personally have removed everything from the light path that could possibly interfere. Mainly because you want to spot very tiny visual artefacts that are a result of your mirror alignment and no other sources of aberrations (like a corrector).

As far as I understand this (but I could be mistaken) if you achieved perfect collimation of the scope you should not have any problems with a corrector (if you put it at the exact specified backfocus).
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Ben Koltenbah avatar
Ben Koltenbah avatar
ArvitZ:
...

To my understanding the main problem is that both of these tools mainly look at alignment of the telescope tube with respect to the mirrors. But I have to face the reality that at least for my GSO telescope the tube is NOT perfectly aligned with the optical axis of my main mirror.

...

Kassar:

This is an issue with which I have to contend.  I don't have a permanent observatory, and so I need to adjust my alignment every time I set up my equipment.  The GSO tube is not aligned with the secondary mirror holder.  I've been considering how I might modify the holder so that I can move it in the transverse directions (call them the x,y directions, where the longitudinal optical axis is the z direction).  Nothing has come to mind as of yet, but it seems to me GSO could provide this.

I have a tip-tilt adapter in the path that (mostly) compensates for this misalignment.  My very first step is to use a laser to make sure the spot lands on the center of the circle on the secondary mirror.  I have a rotator, and so I do my best to make sure the alignment holds through rotation.

I then follow the steps to align the secondary using the alignment scope (I have accumulated several of these over the years).  Usually, the tip-tilt does not require iterative adjustment in tandem with the secondary mirror adjustment.  Next I follow the instructions for secondary mirror alignment looking at the reflections of the spider vanes.

Last, I do star tests, and usually the aforementioned collimation is satisfactory, not requiring additional adjustments.  Prior to performing the first step with the tip-tilt, however, I had noticeable issues with the star test.

Ben
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