Instead of paying ~$20.00 or so plus shipping for a set of Collimation Knobs from various vendors, I decided to make my own. I went to the hardware store and purchased 3 6X32 3/8 Thumb Screws with integral Shoulder Washers. Then I spary painted all but the threads Flat Black and was ready to install them
This was a daunting process getting ready to remove the first screw, but it ended up being quite easy. Pointed the OTA a few degrees below level and replaced one screw at a time. Then did a rough initial collimation by pointing the OTA parallel to the ground, standing 4 feet or so in front and centering the Primary/Secondary reflections. This worked out pretty well. As soon as I get some good seeing, I'll do a good star collimation.
Definitely worth the effort!
[02.03.2007] Last night I had some decent seeing to attempt a star collimation. 5 minutes later I was back where I was before upgrading to the knobs and after a few additional tweeks I achieved better collimation than this scope has ever had. Better seeing and I'll be able to nail it
