From: "Bob May" 
To: "atmlist" 
Reply-To: "Bob May" 


Now that you think that you have the lens together, look into it and see if
the aperture stop is in focus.  That is the black ring that defines the
FOV. After that, you can take a hair and stick it with some spit to that
aperture ring and it should all be in equal focus.  Another test is to
remove the barrel and see if the optical train will focus on a piece of
paper.  The focal plane should be fairly flat (+/- a thousandth of an inch
or so) so you should be able to nicely focus on something. No need to go
out and use the scope.  Everything is done in a nice bright room.
Bob May
http://nav.to/bobmay
bobmay{at}nethere.com
NEW! http://bobmay.astronomy.net

--- BBBS/NT v4.00 MP