NEW Collimation Bolts

Collimation bolts 

When I first started collimating I found it tricky to hold onto a screwdriver and look down the sight tube, this was when I was using a film cap with a hole in it (now I use a Barlowed laser). Now the reason I find collimation tricky is because the screws are all stripped out (my fault) 

Stripped screw head

There must be an easier way to collimate than having to use a screw driver so I decided to make/buy some collimation thumb screws and here is how I did just that :)

 First off the hardware, all bought on eBay probably all cost less than a fiver,
M5 thumb screw female
M5 threaded rod- cut into 30mm sections
M5 Allen/torque screw

ok step 1 is really cut the threaded bar to length and then to cut a slot in the top this is to give it a key for the glue to grab onto and also if the thumb screw should ever come off i can remove it with a flat head screw driver.

exaggerated cut made in the threaded bar 

                                        

  next step a glob of glue in the thumb screw

  and a glob of glue on the threaded rod  

 Here I just used a pair of pliers but this can damage the threads, what I would suggest is to use 2 nuts and tighten them together at the end then use a wrench to hold the rod while you torque down the thumb screw.

Every so often back it off a little as there can be air pockets that form inside that cant get out because of the glue doing this allows them to escape. It also allows excess glue to escape as well.

 Wipe off excess with a damp paper towel

and your done leave to fully set then install your new collimation bolts in your telescope

 and here is the result, these bolts stick out quite a way so I will cut them down a tad, other than that they work great, the allen bolts are better to use as there is no chance of stripping out the heads

Thanks for reading and I hope this has been of some use to you 

HK