I have a Celestron 8” SCT. I need it collimated, and honestly I trust myself to do.
Can I pay someone like $30 to do it for me?
I have the mask, too.
-Ed
Actually you don’t really need a mask. Just a tool to tighten or loosen the three screws on the secondary mirror while viewing a bright star. De-focus in one direction and insure the right are concentric and do the same in the other focus direction. Saves you $30.
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Ed , I have collimated several scts in my backyard , using nothing more than a Christmas bulb , sometimes a Christmas wreath with a few bulbs , during the daytime , with the sun at my back , with the telescope pointing at the bulbs about 40 feet away - the concept is simple the sun reflecting off the Christmas bulb is your light source , the collimation technique involves using high enough magnification , or eyepiece - defocuse until a ring appears with a donut - if the ring is not centered - then your not collimated - to select the correct screw to tweek you can put your finger in front of the telescope to determine - which screw to turn - It gets you close
But then it comes back to question why do you think your out of collimation ? My litmus test is a out of collimation scope won’t have a lot of contrast on planets - stars are not pinpoint -
I recommend you should get the following item.
Bob’s knobs. They are black plastic knobs to put on the secondary mirror
to use instead of the original screws. They make the adjustments much less frustrating because you don’t have to put a alan wrench or screwdriver on the front of the SCT8". I put them on both of my scopes.