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Damo636

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Damo636

Damo636

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Ok, i realise this is a slightly old thread but i thought i'd update it with my thoughts on Protostar flockboard. I flocked my 8'' dob last night using the flockboard and can honestly say its a fantastic product. I ordered 60'' of the .030" material direct from the states for a grand total of £36. Glen at Lyra Optic is selling it now in the UK. I feel a little guilty not sending the business his way as he is a top bloke and in fact advised me that it could be ordered direct from the states. I saved a few £££ by doing this but to be honest if the customs had gotten their grubby hands on it i'd have saved nothing. It took exactly 2 weeks to the day to arrive but managed to dodge customs so all good. Anyway, this stuff is so easy to use and once in it does not move. I didn't see the need for any glue and just overlapped the joints by roughly an inch. Anyway, from start to finish it took me around 2 hours to completely strip, install the flockboard, rebuild everything back into the ota and collimate the mirrors. Amazingly the collimation wasn't even that far out considering that the focuser and both mirrors were completely removed from the ota. Whether or not it makes any difference to the performance of the scope remains to be seen but it certainly looks the part. I have a couple of before and after pics below. I would give this product a 10/10 for ease of use.

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Damo636

Damo636

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Cheers Matthew. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet but hopefully will by the weekend. I am hoping for an improvement in contrast to help tease out the faint fuzzies. Removing the mirrors really is not difficult. All i would say is take things nice and slow and allow yourself plenty of time if you do decide to give it a bash.

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Adz

Adz

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Thanks for the link to your thread Damo, you have convinced me to have a go. I can clean the mirrors while I am at it :)

How did you order 60" of the 0.030 stuff? I estimate I would need 43" x 30" for a 200p Dob...

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Damo636

Damo636

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That would be bobs knobs :)

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They are actually not Bobs Knobs Adam. See this thread http://stargazerslounge.com/member-equipment-reviews/114837-secondary-mirror-adjusters.html

I have Bobs Knobs on the primary but fortunately i found the above thread and used the WDS thumbscrews on the secondary. They are the same thing at less than half the price. I installed the washer as well. It makes collimating of the secondary much easier and stops the thumbscrews leaving pit holes in the soft secondary holder.

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Damo636

Damo636

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Yeah, they are called penny washers and can be bought from most hardware stores or ebay as i did. The size i used (will measure up later and post the exact size) doesn't sit out past the secondary holder like the one in the link above so a little neater. Some people use a washer cut from a milk carton but i experimented with both and found the stainless washer better.

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Skills

Skills

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pre flock:

post-21038-133877674473_thumb.jpg

The flockingboard:

post-21038-133877674485_thumb.jpg

post flock:

post-21038-133877674479_thumb.jpg

Thanks for the idea Damo, I'd been meaning to flock my scope for a while. I bought 60" of flocking from Glen at Lyra Optic (who was very pleasant to speak to on the phone) for £50 and it arrived by first class post. 60" was just the right amount for a 200p and I found it easy to work with and I'm very pleased with the result. Highly recommend it!

Adrian

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  • 2 weeks later...
spaceboy

spaceboy

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I flocked my 250PX with the regular self adhesive flock but I can see the advantages of using this flock board is that if you ever came to selling the scope you could remove the board and use it in another scope. Great post Damo and thanks for bringing it to my attention. I bet this would make flocking refractors so easy.

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Damo636

Damo636

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I bet this would make flocking refractors so easy.

I know Glen at Lyra Optic uses the flockboard on the refractor's he builds. It would be even simpler on a refractor than a newt, especially if the tube wasn't baffled.

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Damo636

Damo636

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have you managed to do a first light comparison with the flocking done

The difference in contrast was immediately apparent. Dso's just looked that bit better against the background sky. One example is the Veil Nebula. Before i flocked the tube i could never detect it without a filter, now i am able to see it unaided, just. I don't know if this is down solely to the flocking or a combination of flock and now that i am using better eyepiece's. On occasion i was seeing annoying internal reflections at the eyepiece, probably from next door neighbours dog bringing their security light on and off, these are now gone also. For the low cost involved imo its definately a mod worth doing.

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