Great Flocking Material- Superb results

[John]

Flocking my Orion Optics 10" Newtonian is going to be a new year project for me - I'm very pleased to see that FLO will be able to provide the material to do it

Can anyone advise whether the benefits from doing the whole tube are significant over those of just doing the area of the tube opposite the focuser and the last 6" or so of the tube around the primary mirror ?.

I'm not intending to flock the spider vanes (I've seen some have done that) as I'd like those to remain as thin in profile as possible.

[ismangil]

I've read article by Gary Seronik and a few others, that the greatest gain is always with eliminating glare and stray lights around the secondary and focuser.

He found not much gain from covering the primary mirror (this was on a truss type reflector)

[ismangil]

We have fifty 45cm x 1m rolls of black velour flocking material en-route from the manufacturer in Germany, they will be on our shelves ready for dispatch first week in January

Unfortunately we cannot achieve £5 per roll. The velours are more expensive than regular finishes but Wilkinsons charge the the same for all of them. With 366 stores they are clearly ordering in a larger quantity than us so can afford to average the cost across all versions.

We can however achieve £7 per roll.

For us this journey started back in February when someone asked us to supply Protostar flocking material. We approached the US supplier but they weren't interested in appointing a UK dealer. Fortunately, thanks to Dave and his thread here on SGL we can now now offer a sensibly priced alternative that is at least as good

That's a good price Steve. An eBay seller is selling it at 7 for 1 roll same size delivered.

I'm currently experimenting with fixing it to plastic sheets to see if I can achieve flockboard type application meaning no sticking to tube needed.

[FLO]

... the greatest gain is always with eliminating glare and stray lights around the secondary and focuser.

Yes, the upper part of the telescope, particularly opposite the focuser, is where most of the benefit can be achieved.

[Moonshane]

basically it's anywhere that the light can scatter and get into the cone of light. this is round and opposite the secondary, the focuser and around the bottom of the tube around the primary. it's also a good idea to put a baffle around the bottom if you can see light around the bottom of the tube when you look down it - apparently snow can create issues when observing!

[Damo636]

I used Protostar flockboard on my 200p and although a fair bit more expensive it is really simple and fast to install. It's as simple as rolling it up and sliding it into the ota. Excellent product.

[Adz]

Great to know you have it in stock FLO

Just to clarify, I should order two rolls for my 8" dob yeah?

Cheers,

[earth titan]

Wilkos are now short 2 more rolls. Just got to pluck up the courage to open the SCT.

[steppenwolf]

Just to clarify, I should order two rolls for my 8" dob yeah?

2 rolls was sufficient for my SW 10" Newtonian, leaving about a 5" gap in the centre of the tube where flocking isn't required anyway so it should be about right for your 8" which has a 1000mm FL against my 1200mm FL.

[Moonshane]

I just got mine from FLO and having used both it seems to be both easier to apply and more robust than the Protostar stuff.

[blinky1983]

I'll try some, Think one roll will be enough for my 250px flex-tube??

[Moonshane]

It depends if you want to do just the bottom and behind the secondary. The area of the sheet is 4500 sq cm. if you multiply the two lengths of the tube in cm by 706 and add together then this will be the area to cover.

It took just over one sheet to do my 6" f6 but I used two full pieces. If you are not worried about a few smaller pieces then you could do a 6" f5 in one sheet I reckon.

[Adz]

2 rolls was sufficient for my SW 10" Newtonian, leaving about a 5" gap in the centre of the tube where flocking isn't required anyway so it should be about right for your 8" which has a 1000mm FL against my 1200mm FL.

Thanks. My 8" is actually a 1200 fl as well. I have ordered 2 sheets

[keithatrochdale]

I needed 2 sheets to do my 8", with a little left over.

[John]

It depends if you want to do just the bottom and behind the secondary....

Thats my plan for my OO 10" F/4.8. That and blacken the edge of the secondary mirror. One thing I would say about my OO newt though it that OO's standard internal blackening is more effective than the Skywatchers that I've used - certainly seems to absorb light a bit better.

[Ludd]

I'm wondering about using some of this stuff to give my bicycle frame a new look. Do folk here reckon it would stand up to a bit of rain?

[wrinkly]

What kind of idiot would do his first flocking, an 8" Orion Dob, on a Friday 13th?

Steps forward and bows.

Great stuff from FLO and learned three things, my 'scope is more a patchwork quilt design than a sheet, after spending part of the day with my arm stuck up a black hole, feel eminently qualified as a James Herriot stand in and feel flocking is the wrong spelling.

[Rols]

Wish i had the nerve to do my Meade, just dont think i have the confidence to pull it apart and get it back together working, i would do something silly and not be happy at the end... looks like a great job done, another time maybe.