I made a collimation cap using the 9mm plossl barrel supplied with my Z10 and a black lens cap as recommended by CraterDavy.  I put a piece of white paper between the primary and secondary mirrors as shown by astrobaby's site. I found the secondary to be very circular and it seem to be aligned very well underneath the focuser.

I then removed the white paper to determine the alignment of the secondary mirror to the primary.  When pointed at a bright wall, I can easily distinguish the 3 primary mirror clips and it looks well centered.

At this point, I should be able to align the primary to the secondary using the adjustment knobs, correct?

I don't have  a chesire tool yet, so here comes a question.  At this point in the operation, with the collimation cap still in place, when I point the scope up toward the living room light fixture I can see the reflections of the cap's peep hole and the primary's center mark in the background of the secondary mirror.  I can only see them when the light reflections are just right.  Is it possible, by using the primary mirrors adjustment knobs, to simply align the primary center mark with this small peep hole reflection to complete the final collimation step?  The cap's peep hole and the primary center mark reflections are off by about inch or less.  It seems plausible to me, but I am a noob collimator.

Curious as always,

Eric

Hi Eric.,.,you have completed the hardest part of the job,.,.I'm not sure why you need to point up at a light ,.,once you remove the paper blocking the primary,.,you should see it,,you said you could see the clips.,.,so you should also be able to see your center mark,.,point your scope at a light colored wall,,or hang a white towel 2ft. in front of it .,,you want to have a plain bright background,,,anyway,., yes you can get pretty close with just the cap.,.,loosen the locking knobs.,.,look in the peephole.,.,remember where your center mark is,,(down+ left,or.up+right what ever) now turn one adjusting knob 1/2a turn,.,,look back in the peep.,.,see what happened.,,you should only have to use 2 of the adjusting knobs to get your mark centered after you get it centered turn the locking knobs just enough to get them to touch the mirror.,.,,and wala.,.,your done,.,,I saved astrobabys instructions on my computer so I could have them right there to look at while I worked,.,good luck ,,.let us know how you make out,.,,O+O

Eric your black lense cap maybe why you had to point at a light to see your peephole..,try cutting out a circle of white paper with a hole in the center that will fit up into the cap.,,so that will be what you see looking through the peephole,,.,my caps are white and can be seen easily as well as the peephole looking at a bright wall,.,hope this helps,.,O+O

 Thanks,

The white color on the inside of the cap would definitely make the peep easier to see.  I take it that I was correct to assume that I need to line up the primary center mark with the peep hole while looking through the cap? This would then center my eye in the center of the primary's donut center mark. I thought that this would be similar to the use of a chesire, but I may be wrong.  I am thinking of ordering the Hotech laser that self centers with the crosshair marker.  I think it would be easy to use outside.

Thanks again,

Eric

Hi Eric,.,.,yes .,.,you should see your eye+the peephole in the center of your primarys center circle.,.,and that should appear in the center of your secondary mirror.,.,the cheshire tube has the cross hairs that help in being even more precise,..it sounds like you have got it,,.,O+O

 Thanks craterdavy,

I'm staring to understand the collimation; it's always easier working with someone to learn any tricks.  Unfortunately, outside of this forum, I'm pretty much on my own around here.  That's why I went ahead and ordered the new 2" Hotech laser with crosshair collimator.  I will be able to use this outside in the dark and by myself.  I have the Zhumell laser and it is very well collimated itself; however, it shifts in the focus tube when I tighten the thumb screw and I know that it is canting- thus, I really don't trust it.  The Hotech swells the rubber rings inside the focus tube and should eliminate this problem.  I hope it works well.  I did use my 15% off promotional coupon to purchase it.  I can't wait to see how far off the scope really is.....not!  I have had only a few semi-dark/clear nights to use it and have been pleased so far.  I know the secondary looks round and centered and the primary clips are all visible.  It will be interesting to find if the secondary needs a little tilting to center it on the primary center mark.  Hopefully, this product works as well as I hope.  

Thanks,

Eric

Hi Eric...,it is not the secondary you need to tilt to bring the primary center ring into place ,.,it's the primary that you need to tilt at this point,.. read astrobabys instructions again,,..,save them to your documents ,.,so you can have them to look at while you do this,.,.once you learn the steps it is quite easy to do,..,I also am alone here and was very unsure about tweeking things around ,..,but I knew I wasn't getting the views I should,..,once I saw astrobabys site I decided to get the chesire tube ..and learn to do this ,.,I have a 114mm reflector and an 8" dob,.,.,I did the 114 first,.not caring to much if I mucked it up,..,.,it took 25mins.I had to adjust the secondary as well as the primary.,.,I did the 8" next .,the secondary was good ..,and I only had to do the primary.,.,,5mins..,,and this was the first time,.,.I'm sure once you know which way the mirror tilts by moving this or that adjuster.,.,it will go even quicker..,.,good luck.,.,O+O