Overheard a guy at the counter say his pentaprism was 2 degrees off...

Made me pull out my old collimator to check three of my own rebuilds and found two had the same tilt issue from a shim that slipped, has anyone else switched to using a drop of superglue to hold those shims steady before final assembly?

2 comments

2 Comments

quinn5822d ago

A buddy of mine ran into this exact problem last year rebuilding a nice old F2. He thought he had it perfect but noticed a tiny softness in the corners on the first test roll. Pulled out his collimator and sure enough, the shim had shifted maybe a half millimeter during assembly. He tried the superglue trick on the next one and it worked like a charm. He said it takes a steady hand and a tiny amount of glue, just enough to tack the shim down without making a mess. I had always just relied on friction and a snug fit but after hearing his story I started doing the same thing. No more surprises during final alignment checks.

victorross2d ago

Yeah no kidding. It's funny how a tiny thing like that can mess up something you spent hours on. @quinn582 that superglue trick is smart but I've seen the same pattern in a lot of different stuff. It's like when you're hanging a heavy shelf and you just assume the drywall anchors are fine but you don't check the drift. Or when you're putting together a cheap piece of furniture and you skip tightening one screw all the way. That half millimeter or half turn always comes back to bite you. People think friction and tight fits are enough but the real world shakes stuff loose. Better to lock it down right the first time.