V-Block Jig to Collimate/Calibrate Laser Collimator by jggall01

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

When I bought my inexpensive laser collimator on eBay, I thought I had scored a bargain. Turns out the laser collimator I bought, itself, needed collimation! The beam from the laser was off center by around 45mm over a distance of 15m. Close, but not good enough for collimation of a Newtonian reflector telescope.
I printed this v-block jig, used hot melt glue to fasten it to a piece of scrap wood, and clamped the assembly to a counter top. I also put a parfocal ring on the laser collimator to give it a square shoulder (this helps when it is inserted into the eyepiece holder on my telescope, but is strictly optional).
The v-block jig keeps the laser collimator aligned securely while you turn the barrel. Across the room the beam from the laser sweeps out a circle on the wall. Adjust the 3 set screws on the collimator to make the circle on the wall as small as possible.
Dimensions are adjustable in the SCAD file, but I found this size to fit the common laser collimator from China that is sold under many brand names.