4" f/10 refractor flocking

[MjrTom]

Hello all,

Well since the rain gods are not on my side at the moment I decided to use the cloudy night to flock the internals of my Vixen Sp102M refractor.

Kit used:

1x roll of Flocking paper from FLO

1x 300GSM matt black card A2 size.

1x pot of blackboard paint.

1x size 10 square tipped artists paint brush

1x Lint remover

various craft knives, cutting boards and straight rules.

(most craft materials purchased from Hobbycraft for less than a tenner)

First task was to strip the optical tube down to its constituent parts.

First job was to repaint the ray traced baffles installed into the tube.

Using the blackboard paint and a square tipped artist paint brush.

I gave each baffle a double coat of matt black paint both front and back allowing an hour between coats for the paint to cure a bit.

For the central section I had to gaffer tape the paint brush to a bamboo cane to allow enough reach.

Next task was the tricky bit.

I measured the internal circumference of the optical tube and also the length of the tube to the first baffle and recorded these figures on some paper.

I repeated this for the central section between the baffles and also the section nearest to the focuser.

This gave me three sections to do.

I took the measurements noted and cut the 300GSM card to these dimensions I then overlaid the flocking material and stuck it to this card trimming off the excess on three sides allowing a slight overhang of the flocking material at the but joint to allow for tube expansion and contraction.

This was repeated for each of the three sections.

Once each piece was prepared it was rolled around the outside of the optical tube to impart a natural tube shape to the card.

Using the lint remover I removed any fluff and loose fibres from the flocking material surface, this material does have a bit of loose fibres so it does help.

Each piece was then slide into place and using the springiness of the card to hold it in place, the central baffled section being the most tricky to get right.

Looking down the tube there is no reflections to be seen on the flocked and painted areas with only the draw tube of the Moonlite focuser now showing a bit of reflection but nothing to worry about.

May give the baffles another coat at some point.

Struggled to get any pictures of it installed because by its very nature its non reflective

Hope you have enjoyed reading my DIY refurbishment of this OTA

[Merlin]

Why not get rid of the shine on the end of the drawtube too, by filing off the chrome and applying a matt black felt-tip pen to the bare metal?

I've done this with my eyepieces too.

[nightfisher]

Nice job mark, im soon going to flock the 180 skymax, also converting it to tube ring on dovetail, putting the rings on it entails removing the corrector plate so i might as well flock it at same time

[spaceboy]

Watch what you are doing Jules as not all Skymax are collimateable.

Great job you done there Mark

[pritc]

Mark,

Nice solution for flocking a 4" tube...

Looks great

Wayne

[dobbie]

I flocked my tal dew shield, dont feel the need to do the tube but i may be wrong? What are everyones thoughts...

[MjrTom]

Thanks guys!

I noticed a subtle improvement from doing the dew shield and the tube section to the first baffle.

Decided then to do the whole tube

[dobbie]

I am not that brave... mjr tom.

[MjrTom]

Not that much to fear

[Damo636]

Nice work Mark, a job well done.

[nightfisher]

dobbie, it might be worth doing the tal dew shield as its shiny plastic, i will end up doing mine as and when

[nightfisher]

Watch what you are doing Jules as not all Skymax are collimateable.

Great job you done there Mark

Im really hoping that it wont need any tweaking, i will have witness marks to reassemble it to the point it came apart, and i wont be taking the corrector out of its cell, this is mainly to remove the 2 nuts that will end up lose in the OTA once the dove tail is released, if on inspection i find the 2 nuts are captive i might just leave well alone

[Caldwell 14]

dobbie, it might be worth doing the tal dew shield as its shiny plastic, i will end up doing mine as and when

I think I'll do mine sometime soon, it is very shiny!

[MjrTom]

Thanks again

Jules as long as you make note of the position of the corrective plate I dont think you will have any issues IMO but dont hold me to it

C14: It's definitely worth it in my opinion.

[dobbie]

Hi guys, yep did flock the dew shield as its very shiny , not got the bottle to do a mrj tom on it , and cadwell 14 I now have the same set up as yours now , talrs100 & az4 , clouds go away please ...

Sent from my HTC Wildfire using Tapatalk

[MjrTom]

There really is little to worry about

[moriniboy]

I have flocked the focuser tube and diagonal on my ED120. I also considered the dew shield and discovered that that the shield would not retract if I did this.

With regard to the the internal area behind the lens, I'm not sure if the lens is easily removeable, can anyone confirm this?

[Merlin]

It isn't necessary to flock the inside of a plastic dew shield. All that's needed is rough sandpaper to turn the plastic matt black.

[MjrTom]

It isn't necessary to flock the inside of a plastic dew shield. All that's needed is rough sandpaper to turn the plastic matt black.

Good point Merlin

[MjrTom]

With regard to the the internal area behind the lens, I'm not sure if the lens is easily removeable, can anyone confirm this?

Is it the DS-Pro ED100 or the 100mm Equinox?

I am not sure how the lens assembly is configured in these, so sorry I cant help you on that.

With this telescope of mine the lens assembly just screws onto the end of the optical tube making very easy to dismantle.

[Caldwell 14]

Sorry to bump this thread...

That is the scariest thing I ever heard...wow... I'm going to do it!

Has anyone out there taken a TAL 100RS apart? If so was it easy to do? I seem to be getting some rather annoying light scatter on the very brightest objects (not the moon for some reason) and now I have started to pick it up on Mars (which was looking rather good last night, nice detail) so enough is enough now. As soon as FLO get some in I'm going to give it a go. How diid you cope with the dreaded middle section BTW MjrTom?

[Caldwell 14]

I tried taking the dew shield off last night and it made no diiference so it must be coming from inside the tube. I can't see anything shiny down there though.

[MjrTom]

Hello again

finding the source of reflections and light scatter can be tricky.

I found that if my 1.25" diagonal was dusty it would flare on bright objects and ghost when the object is just outside the FOV. Might be worth a check. The 2" diagonal did not seem to have this issue.

With respect to the centre section between the baffles I stuck the flocking paper to the card and then rolled it around the outside of the telescope tube to impart a tube shape.

I then rolled it up so it was small enough to pass through the first baffle. When you let go of it the springiness of the card makes the tube expand to the internal dimensions of the OTA.

measure the internal circumference and the length between the baffles cutting it slightly shorter helps with positioning it inside the tube.

Its going to be a pig to get out of that central section if its not correct so make sure your measurements are spot on.

Measure twice and cut once

[John]

With light scatter issues I tend to suspect the eyepieces initially. Very small issues with internal baffling in eyepieces can cause really noticable light scatter and off axis ghosting as was found in the initial run of the TMB / Burgess Planetary eyepieces where it was caused by a lens retaining ring not quite being manufactured to spec.

With refractors the light only makes one pass through the tube, with the light cone narrowing, usually passing though a series of knife edge baffles, so the chances of scope induced light scatter are much reduced over other designs I reckon. That said, any obviously shiny areas near the light path will benefit from flocking / blackening of course.

[Caldwell 14]

Ummmm, that is interesting, BST explorers? can't remember if I had any issues when I used the baader Zoom.