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flocking disgrace

mashedpotatomountain

By mashedpotatomountain
in DIY Astronomer

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mashedpotatomountain

mashedpotatomountain

Posted
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hey all

well i decided in my innocence to have a go at flocking my scope today…and whilst it hasn't been all bad, it hasn't gone exactly to plan...and i thought my efforts might raise a smile or two with experienced flockers and maybe serve as a thought provoker to other potential flockers :)

so firstly, having done my homework i had no fear of stripping down the scope etc. am fairly new to this, but not afraid to get stuck in - and having had no probs learning collimation, i've been itching to flock my beloved scope and see if it improved my already fine views.

with no work scheduled for the afternoon, i sat down to enjoy a bit of dismantling…and as it turned out, this was the easy part! the thing to remember is as long as you treat every part with care, and be methodical in your approach there's really nothing at all to be scared of.

having safely stored away the primary in a clean plastic container, i first went to work on the secondary and blackened the edges & rear with matte black paint. i actually tried blackboard paint, but for some reason the brand i used didn't take too well to glass, so in the end i opted for matte black humbrol model paint which worked well. or so i thought! it applies well, but is not actually as matte as they would have you believe. quite shiny in fact, and it will take a gentle rubbing down to actually make it matte i think...i then applied same to the outside edge of the draw tube, just far enough to cover it at full inward travel…so with these components safely drying, and with a manly crack of the knuckles i got right to flocking...

firstly i want to say that whilst things did not necessarily go to plan, i did come up with a couple of ideas which may be of benefit if they haven't been thought of already - i had the brainwave of using a couple of the polystyrene packing mounts that housed the scope in its box to sit the scope in during the procedure…secondly, i re-rolled the flocking in the opposite direction to how it arrives, kind of re-training it to roll the other way which i found really helps when applying it bit by bit…and thirdly, i got a piece of strong plastic tubing (actually a vacuum cleaner extension) and used it to help evenly roll out the flocking inside the OTA.

however...perhaps suffering from too much beginners bravado, here i thought i knew better than to actually follow the advice previously read here on SGL…instead of taking my time and cutting manageable strips, i thought i could apply the whole roll in one go :) and to be fair, starting at the top end of the scope, the first roll went on really well - applying the leading edge along the join in the OTA, i slowly pushed the flocking around the tube bit by bit, and it went on really smoothly - with perhaps the odd bubble which was easily dealt with by slicing with a scalpel and flattening out - and i sat back thinking this was a doddle...

so you know what happened next…i began with the next roll at the other end (thinking to add a final strip in the middle to cover the gap) and for whatever reason, call it lack of concentration, or more likely lack of coordination, this roll decided to make a monkey out of me…i just could not get it to apply smoothly, and in the end pretty much threw it round the tube thinking i'd sort out the bubbles later! however, removing the odd bubble is one thing - trying to iron out a mountain of creases, bubbles, and general mess is another! you have to understand that this stuff is STICKY! it really does not want to come away again once it's applied…you have one, maybe 2 chances to correct your mistake and then that's that.

i'm now faced with a dilemma, and looking shame-faced for a bit of opinion…do i accept my shoddy workmanship and live with a scope that's half-nicely-flocked, half-crazy-golf-course? or do i strip it, buy some more and do it again? it's not actually as bad as it sounds, just not perfect - and i'm sure you all feel the same way about your babies and anything less than perfect just won't do! here's a pic so you can see what i mean. i'm probably beating myself up for nothing because of course it'll still do the job. but, well, you know what i mean…it's not quite right!

i was so pleased with myself for all the careful preparation…let this be lesson to those wanting to do the same - just take your time, don't get cocky, and don't end up with a dog's dinner like me!

rich

post-33877-0-09149500-1393276607_thumb.j

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Fozzie

Fozzie

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Nice tips... I've got some black stuff on order, that is after I accidentally ordered the wrong one first time round... It has given me plenty of opportunity to practice for the real thing this weekend... I'm proud to say I am the owner of 6 flocked whiskey bottle tubes that are not too shabby at all....

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mashedpotatomountain

mashedpotatomountain

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to be honest, although it is not aesthetically as nice as a flat surface, the ripples will act like baffles and work more effectively. put the scope back together, collimate and enjoy!

well that's cheered me up no end!

maybe i'll put a few more wrinkles in it and say i did it on purpose ;)

thanks, rich

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Laurie61

Laurie61

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Hi Rich and welcome to the 'flocked' club  :smiley: as has been said a few wrinkles won't matter. When doing my sct's I found it helpful to buy some stiff craft card, cut it to size and then flock that. A few pieces of double sided tape is then all that's needed to hold the flocked card in the tube. Doing it this way allows you to do the hard bit on a flat table. This is my C11 showing a flocked and baffled method.

post-30467-0-20383100-1393344015_thumb.j       

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Laurie61

Laurie61

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How did you so the ridging?

Sounds a good idea if ever were to sell as well.

The ridging was done by cutting the flocking material into 1 cm strips, laying one length on the top of the card and then overlapping the next strip on the previous one, you then keep going until you reach the bottom edge of the card. :smiley:   

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mashedpotatomountain

mashedpotatomountain

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Hi Rich and welcome to the 'flocked' club  :smiley: as has been said a few wrinkles won't matter. When doing my sct's I found it helpful to buy some stiff craft card, cut it to size and then flock that. A few pieces of double sided tape is then all that's needed to hold the flocked card in the tube. Doing it this way allows you to do the hard bit on a flat table. This is my C11 showing a flocked and baffled method.

attachicon.gifIMG_3805.r..jpg       

what a great idea! wish i'd thought of that…

i know a few wrinkles aren't the end of the world, i just don't like not getting it quite right!

cheers

rich

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michaeldurban

michaeldurban

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I'm sorry I have nothing constructive to add but..

Just love the title of this topic... : Flocking Disgrace,,

everytime I see it in the DIY section I laugh..

(maybe I would have changed it to : A Flocking Disgrace..)

anyway..

great stuff...

:)

great thread !!!

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mashedpotatomountain

mashedpotatomountain

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I'm sorry I have nothing constructive to add but..

Just love the title of this topic... : Flocking Disgrace,,

everytime I see it in the DIY section I laugh..

(maybe I would have changed it to : A Flocking Disgrace..)

anyway..

great stuff...

:)

great thread !!!

or perhaps i should've named it after that film with robert de niro in, ' meet the flockers'...

glad it made you laugh anyway :)

cheers

rich

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denisorionxt6

denisorionxt6

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Food for thought. .... I've just done the edges of my secondary mirror with a black sharpie pen and I've ordered 3 rolls of flocking from the shop advertised here on stargazers so I will soon be at the scary stage of disassembly and arms deep in my dob eek! :)

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

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