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Subject: Re: vote by rjb By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.204.102) In Reply to: rjb (Original Vote) Date: 04/23/2005 01:03:32 pm PST I just received my Orion LaserMate Deluxe today. The first thing I did was check the alignment of the laser. By looking down the tube, visually I could see that the laser aperture was misaligned with the hole in the tube, so I decided to measure the misalignment. By standing the tube on its end with the laser pointing down on an optically flat mirror, it was apparent that the return beam was misaligned with the hole. I shimmed the side of the tube opposite the misalignment until the return beam was centered in the hole, and found that the misalignment corresponded to 1/2 of a degree, ten times greater than the 3 minutes of arc claimed in the specifications! This was only the first of my disappointments. I decided to try the LaserMate on my 15" f/5 Discovery Dob, and found that it did not fit well in the eyepiece tube, but had so much play that it was impossible to center accurately. I tightened the eyepiece setscrew and decided to try collimation anyway. I had previously collimated the scope by eye so that the optics appeared perfectly centered. The purpose of the LaserMate was to improve on that. I aligned the secondary tilt, and then the primary mirror, until the received beam was exactly centered in the hole. I then checked the centering of the mirrors by eye again, and found that my telescope had become completely decollimated! Both the secondary and primary mirrors were now far off center. This was to be expected because of the alignment problems with the Laser Mate itself. I had read several positive reviews of the LaserMate before I bought it, but in hindsight I realize that these were all somehow affiliated with companies that were selling it. I plan now to return the LaserMate and require Orion to fulfill the terms of the warranty, and to bring it up to the performance stated in their advertised specifications. However I don't know how they will do this without a complete redesign. WJG Bensalem PA Subject: Orion Lasermate Deluxe By: Anonymous (xxx.xxx.81.14) Date: 02/24/2006 05:36:12 am PST The Orion LaserMate Deluxe does fit loosely in the 1.25" bore of most focusers. But, if one were to silicone/epoxy the laser into/or machine a tightly fitting 1.25 adaptor, this would work well. The focuser must have hydraulic lifter (0.0001)tolerance without question. For a little piddling, the Orion Laser should be as accurate as a laser 2X the cost. I see no reason to return the Orion LaserMate I purchased. Even with a loose fit, it proved that my cheshire collimator was not very accurate. Concentrate on squaring your focuser in the tube, and machining a tight fitting 1.25" adaptor. Then, there will be no problems. (p.s.) Don't let the cat use the telescope as a scratching post. Page 1 of 1 | ||||||||
