Wednesday, December 31, 2025

Collimation Screws for Meade 8" SCT

In order to facilitate collimation, I have bought a set of thumb screws to replace the existing collimation screws.

And to my surprise, the original screws were so short:

I wonder if they won't work when I placed them side-by-side.

AI suggests even longer length, but I have no choice but to buy these to test.

Buying Bob's Knobs will be several times of the cost, so it's nice to explore, trial and errors.

I have used Bob's Knobs maybe like 20 years ago when money was not matter, so I know how to replace them.  In short, I replace them one by one:

It's a good fit.  Despite the new screw is longer than the original.  On removing the "original" screws, I found that it was feeling loose, I began to think they were not original?  Or they were somehow abused before?  And that also explains why I never attained good collimation with them?

Guess what, the new screw has a good range for adjustment.  

They are not without problem, I want a bigger "handle" and the downside was that, the front cover could no longer be fitted on!


Finally, I used some distant tree to briefly collimate the scope.  The forecast said clear skies tomorrow night.  


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