Proprietary Crosshair Laser Collimator
ALL AMERICAN MADE from American Made Components!

Proprietary laser crosshair, user can zero-in the laser with ease during the final collimation on the secondary and the primary mirror. The crosshair model still exhibits a precision laser center dot, but with a touch of four extended laser lines from the center dot. The extension lines (crosshair) of the laser dot is the most intuitive way to guide the laser pointing for an accurate adjustment. During the secondary mirror collimation, a single dot laser projecting on the approximate center of the pre-loaded donut is difficult to identify if the laser dot is exactly on the center. The crosshair laser can easily help user to adjust the secondary mirror to point the laser on the exact center with the help of the crosshair line. During the final primary mirror collimation, the returning laser dot often hides into the laser exiting hole preventing user to identify if the returning laser is at exact center of the hole. Again, the crosshair will visually guide the user to center the laser dot with ease even when the center laser dot disappears into the exiting hole. It is a very effective and essential feature to the SCA Laser Collimator in obtaining at even higher degree of accuracy with ease. Click here for a video tour on YouTube.
 

High Accuracy Laser Alignment

HoTech laser collimators are well centered and aligned which are critical factors for an accurate collimation. You will be surprised that many laser collimators in the market fail in this regard. The reason is in the design and understanding of the product itself.

All aspects of in the design. Parameters like the alignment mechanism, mechanical and optical structure of the laser itself, and more are taken as part of our design. For instance, some laser collimators actually install an off-the-shelf laser pointer in the casing. It is very cost effective (for seller), but it inherits numerous problems. In many cases, the laser pointer might not install perfectly centered in the casing due to pointer size variations and the added alignment mechanism. So the laser itself is not positioned on the true alignment point and optical axis. As the result, the laser can never be center-aligned in the enclosure. It is possible to align the laser beam parallel to the optical path but always with an offset along the optical axis. This means the laser beam is off no matter how you center adapt the laser collimator to the focuser. The result of off-centered laser will introduce astigmatism into your telescope.

HoTech laser collimators are well centered and aligned which are critical factors for an accurate collimation. You will be surprised that many laser collimators in the market fail in this regard. The reason is in the design and understanding of the product itself.

All aspects in the design. Parameters like the alignment mechanism, mechanical and optical structure of the laser itself, and more are taken as part of our design. For instance, some laser collimators actually install an off-the-shelf laser pointer in the casing. It is very cost effective (for seller), but it inherits numerous problems. In many cases, the laser pointer might not install perfectly centered in the casing due to pointer size variations and the added alignment mechanism. So the laser itself is not positioned on the true alignment point and optical axis. As the result, the laser can never be center-aligned in the enclosure. It is possible to align the laser beam parallel to the optical path but always with an offset along the optical axis. This means the laser beam is off no matter how you center adapt the laser collimator to the focuser. The result of off-centered laser will introduce astigmatism into your telescope

The Self-Centering Adapter cleverly eliminates the slop by linearly compressing the built-in rubber rings. By doing this, the diameter of the rings expands to compensate the gap. Because all rings evenly expand radially in diameter from the compression, this automatically centers the laser collimator in the focuser draw tube. The SCA adapter accommodates various brands of adapting focusers which have slightly different manufacturing inside diameters so our laser collimator will be precisely centered for each installment.

Many laser collimator manufacturers give users the wrong impression, “big and heavy means rugged and stable.” Instead, HoTech engineers successfully cut the unnecessary weight on the laser collimator because we understand that additional weight on a telescope (especially open structure Newtonians) will create imbalance and structure sagging. The SCA-Collimator is made with aero-space grade lightweight aluminum material and CNC machined with the tightest tolerances, then sand blasted and anodized to protect from harsh environment. Nothing has been sacrificed while you get a long lasting state-of-the-art collimation instrument.

The faceplate viewer helps to display the returning laser spot with a clear visual reference during adjustment. The faceplate allows you to align your primary mirror from the rear of the telescope eliminating traveling to the front of your scope repeatedly during collimation.

HoTech understands the importance of this, so the faceplate is a standard feature in our laser collimator. All astronomers deserve to have it without paying any extra!

In addition, the faceplate viewer’s pattern is laser engraved to ensure a long lasting sharp targeting grid. Unlike other collimators, the target is not a sticker that will peel, or paint that can rub off or chip. We understand that you are paying for a precision instrument that is supposed to be well made.

Available Models

1.25" SCA-Crosshair Collimator $114.95

 

2.00" SCA-Collimator $145.95