,asy (C) Collimation 5 the Duncan method

400x way out of focus

Uncollimated

Collimated

Focused

Method: Cut out mask circle to size of corrector plate, remove white areas, cut out circle for central o struction! " used the lid of a lar#e plastic tu to make a dura le mask $a %ickes repair plaster tu is &ust ri#ht for an ' inch Meade (C)*! Find a fairly ri#ht star near zenith or use a picostar! +lace mask over central o struction so #aps are opposite collimation screws! Use a 400x ma# ,+ and you will see curved ima#es of the #aps! -d&ust focus and they will .flip. to lines pointin# to the centre! -d&ust each opposite screw to .move. it.s correspondin# line towards the others! /ecentre the lines in the Fo0 as needed! %hen they all meet collimation is achieved, when they cross evenly you are in perfect focus! /emove the mask! "n my 1230 you can see nice even well defined diffraction rin#s4-iry disk around the focused star! 1ovely!

Duncan Evenden (OAS) drew this in 2009 based on something found on the web years ago.