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Just got solar film

Stargazer Jack

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Stargazer Jack

Stargazer Jack

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Hi, I have just got the Baader AstroZap solar film from sherwoods and was wondering what to do next. The man there said just to use the hole in the dust cap but why can't I use the whole aperture? Also do I follow the instructions on the back because it says about cardboard and tissues which is confusing :S :)

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Bizibilder

Bizibilder

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Assuming you are using the 130M I would make your filter "full aparture". That is make the cardboard bits (as in the instructions) so that you have a piece of film the same size as the aparture of your telescope (ie 130mm).

NOTE: The Baader film has a thin layer of clear plastic on both sides - don't forget to remove it (carefully) before you mount the film in your holder - its easy to miss this (or forget to do it) and may result in the film coming loose from the holder - NOT a good idea!!

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mag10

mag10

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This is how I managed with my SW Explorer 130mm. You can see what it will look like once your filter's done. Don't forget the finder scope if you have one!

Also, my skirt only looks like solar filter material, but it's just ordinary foil on heavy plastic and reinforcing metal struts.

If you have any questions, I'll be glad to help.

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mag10

mag10

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No problem at all, glad to be of service.

First of all, you'll have to lose the red dot finder. The filter won't accomodate it, and in any case you really should'nt use it for solar observing.

(As you can see, I mounted a 8 x 50 finder scope, also filtered, which is a great help).

But barring this extra expense, I read somewhere that the way to find the sun safely (without peering straight into it, which is not recommended), is to align your scope so its shadow is straight behind it (makes sense if you think about it). Then you just have to find the sun's altitude using your filtered scope with a wide EP (25mm or wider). after that, you can change EPs and get closer.

As for the construction of the filter, I must admit to following the instructions only so far. That whole thing about making a ring with laminated strips of cardboard seemed just a bit too involved. So I looked around the house and found that the plastic cover of a 2 liter tub of ice-cream was exactly the same outside diameter (OD) as the telescope!

Of course, the front of the scope is'nt perfectly circular because of the strut mountings. So I had to cut the side of the plastic cover to accomodate these, and also the red dot finder bracket.

(See photo 2).

Then I cut out the top of the plastic cover to the edge, making a ring onto which I could glue the actual filter assembly.

If you don't have a handy tub of ice-cream (or any other product) at hand, you'll have to construct that laminated cardboard ring. The filter assembly must be mounted on a safe interface with the telescope. (This might not be a bad thing, given the irregular shape of the front of this particular scope. A nice snug fit is really important for obvious safety reasons. You don't want your filter flying off in a breeze while observing, and making you blind in one eye for the rest of your life).

As to the filter assembly, I followed the instructions pretty closely, only to find out there was a whole bit I really did'nt need: That second bit of cardboard used to "sandwich" the filter is really not needed and I did'nt use it. (I don't even know why I kept it, but you can see it in picture 3).

-So basically, you take a square piece of fairly thick and rigid cardboard that's about an inch larger than the OD of the tube, you place the tube onto it and mark the inside diameter with a pencil. (This scope being a truss design, you can do this easily).

-Then you cut out the circle, and you have the mounting for your filter.

-You place two-sided sticky tape all the way around the front of your cardboard mounting,

-place the mounting onto the filter paper so the sticky tape sticks to the filter and cut out a square a few centimeters larger than the cardboard square.

Note: The instructions predict dire consequences should the filter paper not be perfectly flat and smooth after this operation.

That's baloney.

First of all, it's virtually impossible to place your mounting onto the filter paper with all that sticky tape and not have a few wrinkles. Don't sweat it. Mine has HUGE wrinkles, and it works perfectly.

After that you take the excess filter material that's around the edge, and just fold it behind the back of the cardboard and tape it securely with regular tape.

And now you have your filter assembly.

Now you just need to glue the back of your filter assembly to the front of your ring, and you're all set.

IMPORTANT NOTE: While observing the sun, SECURELY TAPE your filter to your scope with duct tape. Don't take any chances that it will fly off.

Note about my pictures: The back of my cardboard mounting looks like it also has filter material on it. But it's just regular foil that looks exactly like the filter foil. I just put it there for esthetics. It's not needed at all. It's also this same material you see folded back in a daisy pattern on the inside of my plastic ring. Disregard this as it has nothing to do with the actual filter.

There.

I hope this helps, and if you still have questions, don't hesitate. I'm really glad I got this solar filter. The weather being what it is, you can at least do some observing during the day.

Hint: If you want to know beforehand if you're going to see sunspots, go to NASA's SDO page. It will prevent you from setting up your gear only to see a featureless white disk!

http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/latest/latest_4096_4500.jpg

Picture 1:

The front of the filter. This is all filter material folded around the back of the cardboard and taped securely in place. (Of course, underneath this layer of filter material, there's the two-sided sticky tape, making a secure bond with the front of the cardboard mounting.) The folded-back bits are just aditionnal precaution against delamination during observation. You can never be too safe with your eyes.

Picture 2:

The back of the filter.

Note the big notches cut out from the side of the plastic ring to accomodate the telescope truss mountings and red dot finder bracket.

You can also see bits of duct tape sticking out from the outside of the plastic ring. These are to secure the filter to the scope. As these bits of tape are still sticky, I still use them. At the first sign of lost adhesion though, they get replaced.

Note also the regular foil material folded inside the plastic ring. This is only the excess material with which I covered the back of the filter assembly. Not important and for esthetics only.

Picture 3:

The 2nd bit of cardboard supposedly necessary to "sandwich" the filter.

Unnecessary and not used by me. (Also covered in regular foil for purely esthetic reasons).

Pictures 4 & 5:

What you can expect to see.

These pictures were on an unmotorized Alt-Az mount, taken with a Fuji Finepix portable camera (1.3MP!) simply held above the EP! (Real basic afocal photography, so really not the best, in terms of imaging).

Picture 4:

With a 25mm EP, the whole disc of the Sun, with sunspots.

(A bit of Photoshop processing)

Picture 5:

On another day with a 10mm EP and 2x barlow.

(Photo blown-up and also Photoshopped, especialy in terms of saturation, to bring out the colour).

Enjoy!

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mag10

mag10

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I can't see why it would'nt work.

Just tape the filter material securely, and you're off to the races.

My dust cover did'nt come with that hole. Strange...But if your dust-cover is otherwise like mine, it does'nt lock, so duct-tape it to your scope when solar observing.

Sorry to be pain about safety, but blindness can ruin your whole day.

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mag10

mag10

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Oops. It looked like I goofed about the models of scopes we have:

For some reason I really thought I had the " 130mm Explorer Reflector" when in fact I have the "130mm Heritage Dobsonian". (I should have looked at your avatar picture more closely!).

No matter, the instructions still hold, and this is actually good news for you: The mouth of your scope is fully circular, which should make it easier to find a plastic container cover that you can adapt. (Sorry about all the instructions concerning "irregular shapes" and "truss mountings"!)

(I bought my scope a year ago, and I just did'nt figure Skywatcher would have two 130mm newtonians that were so different!)

Boy. I'm a little red in the face, I am!

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Stargazer Jack

Stargazer Jack

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Oops. It looked like I goofed about the models of scopes we have:

For some reason I really thought I had the " 130mm Explorer Reflector" when in fact I have the "130mm Heritage Dobsonian". (I should have looked at your avatar picture more closely!).

No matter, the instructions still hold, and this is actually good news for you: The mouth of your scope is fully circular, which should make it easier to find a plastic container cover that you can adapt. (Sorry about all the instructions concerning "irregular shapes" and "truss mountings"!)

(I bought my scope a year ago, and I just did'nt figure Skywatcher would have two 130mm newtonians that were so different!)

Boy. I'm a little red in the face, I am!

No problems lol :)

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RT65CB-SWL

RT65CB-SWL

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"I have the red-dot finder, do I need to cover that up? Also could you post a quick list of how you made it or did you follow the instructions? Sorry for all the questions."

Yes! cover it or remove it.

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Stargazer Jack

Stargazer Jack

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Sorry for the questions again. On this link: http://stargazerslounge.com/diy-astronomer/117725-making-off-axis-solar-filter.html it has a PDF file. Could I use that method for my telescope even though it is a different telescope? It's just I wanted to make a off-axis filter first so I know what I am doing. Once again, sorry for all the questions.

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superjody

superjody

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I was solar observing the other week using the hole in the dust cap....I made a HUUUUUUGE mistake.

I was struggling to find the sun so I took out the eyepiece, put the eyepiece cover on removed the scope dust cap with the filter on so I could look through the finderscope with the filter and line it up, it was off for about 5 seconds which i didnt think would do anything.....how wrong I was. There was smoke coming out of my scope and the eyepiece cap was bubbling.

Lesson learned there, all because I was too lazy to make a filter cover for the finderscope.

Just goes to show the power of the sun

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Stargazer Jack

Stargazer Jack

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I was solar observing the other week using the hole in the dust cap....I made a HUUUUUUGE mistake.

I was struggling to find the sun so I took out the eyepiece, put the eyepiece cover on removed the scope dust cap with the filter on so I could look through the finderscope with the filter and line it up, it was off for about 5 seconds which i didnt think would do anything.....how wrong I was. There was smoke coming out of my scope and the eyepiece cap was bubbling.

Lesson learned there, all because I was too lazy to make a filter cover for the finderscope.

Just goes to show the power of the sun

Gosh! Hope your telescope isn't too badly damaged

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superjody

superjody

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Gosh! Hope your telescope isn't too badly damaged

No damage to the telescope but the poor little eyepiece dustcap was burned inside and had a bubble on the outside ha ha, the smell of burning plastic wasnt nice either

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