Designing a new affordable production-ready Autocollimator

Andreas Thaler said:

It would be important to include detailed instructions for use with the collimator, because this device is not self-explanatory. Also information, what can be done with it.

This is beneficial for interested parties who have no experience with it and thus increases the potential customer base.

Click to expand...

There are three key PDF on the learn camera repair site that describe in detail the function and use of autocollimators for camera repair.

1) Camera Craftsman May-June 1978 (best)
2) Nationa Camera Instruction Manual for Auto-Collimators (two versions; very similar).

After some more time, some issues became more clear, that the focus travel was too slow. I designed a multistart thread and ordered a new prototype of the aluminum tube.



It works well so far.

There was also some issues with the horizontal tubes being wobbly so I printed a two piece clamp that holds them snugly, and it works much better.



I'm considering making it available with or without the stand, for a lower cost option. I won't be able to run a Kickstarter for this until I ship the items for the last one I ran back in January/February.

Looks very nice.

Eagerly awaited!

Hi Everyone,

I've been slacking on this project for a while, I got burned out on it after having issues with the focusing barrel. I opted for a few compromises:

1. Use an off-the-shelf M42 helicoid to get a quality and reliable focusing mount at a reasonable price at this quantity (and stop wasting time and money developing my own inferior design). The 25-55mm length M42 helicoid with a brass interior works very well.
2. No longer include a stand. The size, weight and issues with the quality of the base was not to my liking and was going to greatly raise costs for the customer. I redesigned the unit to have arca-swiss compatible geometry and a 1/4-20 brass insert to make it easy to adapt to a copy stand, tripod or table-clamp arm rig.

Some more info is here.

My plan for production is to secure at least 20 $100 CAD deposits, to make sure there is serious interest. If I don't secure 20 deposits before the end of the year, I'll cancel the project and refund them. Then I'll begin a production run of 50 units, ordering the parts in January 2026. I'm hoping to ship the finished units in March 2026. Before your Autocollimator ships, you'll make a second order for $600 CAD + shipping, bringing the total to $700 CAD (about $502 USD), plus shipping. More details are on the order page. The Autocollimator will qualify for tariff-free entry into the USA.

If you're interested, please click here to place your deposit.

See the images below of the prototype, which is production-grade, it just has some misplaced laser etching on the body and some other cosmetic variances.

This is a great working autocollimator. We had it compared to my Rollei factory collimator (heavy cast metal beast) and also Hilger-Wats metrology collimator.

It compares very favorably with great and probably slightly clearer target visibility probably due to modern coatings on the Reveni Labs collimator's optics.
Reflection off the film is clearly visible and can be used to check/calibrate the focus on the actual film plane.

While waiting for parts to arrive, I've been working on a collimator that can be used for rangefinder alignment:



It has a 131mm diameter lens and 1200mm focal length. Depending on how many orders I get, the price will be around $750 CAD ($532 USD) and shipping around $55 CAD to USA, $95 to EU.