As a planet imager I am obsessed with accurate collimation. One of the many sources of error lies in the lose fit between a 1.25" adapter and the 2" focuser, and lose fit between the 1.25" collimator and the adapter. In the past I would solve this by shimming the adapter (with tape) and the barrel of my laser collimator, making the fit so tight that I had to put the shimmed 1.25" adapter in the freezer to be able to insert it in the 2" focuser tube! That also meant I could not remove the adapter in the field.
My recently aquired Glatter Parallizer has solved my problems. While I have not done any extensive testing, I can tell that it gives me about the same accuracy as I could achieve with my best shimming efforts. What remains of wobble is probably inherent in the focuser and laser collimator. The design is remarkably simple, just an angled setscrew and outer surface that isn't quite round. The "manual" is equally short; just one sentence!
My recently aquired Glatter Parallizer has solved my problems. While I have not done any extensive testing, I can tell that it gives me about the same accuracy as I could achieve with my best shimming efforts. What remains of wobble is probably inherent in the focuser and laser collimator. The design is remarkably simple, just an angled setscrew and outer surface that isn't quite round. The "manual" is equally short; just one sentence!
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