Flocking a 6SE

[knobby]

I'd say that's a result

[Cath]

Me too knobby

I have yet to collimate it, I expect it's a mile off after taking it apart. But I'll wait for the Bob's knobs to arrive that I've ordered, I find it a bit difficult to collimate properly with a screw driver.

[JamesF]

Was the light from the Sun comparable in both those photos, Cath? If it was the improvement seems astonishing. The second image has so much more contrast and the colours are far more vibrant.

Collimating may well be a bit of a slog. When I did my Mak it wasn't hard, just laborious. Could be worth making up an artificial star (even if it's only a ball bearing glued to a piece of card) to get close with the collimation without having to wait for a night when the atmosphere is stable to allow a decent star test.

James

[Cath]

I think the sun was a bit brighter this evening on the last photo unfortunately, I wanted to take the before and after photos at the same time of day with similar atmosphere, but couldn't plan for the sun to be same.

Even so the contrast and colours do look a lot better. Whether that's totally down to brighter sun light I'm not sure. I guess it can't be any worse than not being flocked though I spose. Glad I've done it though.

A ball bearing as an artificial star, never thought of that

The trouble is, I don't think the scope won't focus to a short enough distance to use an artificial star in the garden, the gardens not long enough

[JamesF]

Distance is a problem, yes. Fortunately our house is long and thin so I can get the distance indoors, but in a more "normal" shape house and garden I guess it must be tricky. Get a neighbour to stick the card to their fence?

James

[knobby]

Post it to me... That'll give it some distance

[faulksy]

Very good Cath big change in view, I will have to do mine now

Sent from my LT30p using Tapatalk 2

[username]

Definitely worth doing, I get the same glow as the top left pic on my cat

[Cath]

Very good Cath big change in view, I will have to do mine now

What I would say is if you do then brush the velour (unless you use flock board I guess) over first if you can to remove any possible loose fibres. I dragged a ruler over mine a few times (with a bit of downward pressure), you get what looks like a fine black dust (loos'ish fibres) coming off.

I found it a bit addictive once I'd started, everything I could flock I did - the whole main tube, inside and outside edges of the small front baffle around the secondary mirror and the entire length (inside only) of the main rear baffle that goes through the primary mirror. That main baffle was the worse culprit of all I found so had to be done.

I found no scratches, no marks, no rush, no un matt black surfaces in the scope, it was still like new inside after owning it for 15 months (from new). A good educational project striping it down and flocking I'd say (for anyone).

[Cath]

Definitely worth doing, I get the same glow as the top left pic on my cat

What scope have you got I wonder?

[JamesF]

I found it a bit addictive once I'd started, everything I could flock I did

Oh dear. I have visions of visitors arriving at your hours in six months time and finding the entire living room has been turned matt black

James

[username]

What scope have you got I wonder?

Skymax 102 mak.

It's funny talking about similar gloows, last night I noticed the same arc as well in mine albeit from a streetlight as i was moving the scope.

I'm not too bothered about it at the moment, not too worried about taking it apart just want to get another scope so I have some redundancy if it takes longer than expected (thinking about collimation here more).

I've read that maks aren't the best baffled scopes (certainly the chinese ones) although I think it's hardly the fault of Synta when they make things so cheaply. It's a balance between sufficient baffling and providing full aperture illumination. When you focus by moving the primary therefore continually changing the angle of the light cone there's only one focus position that it would be optimal. Different eyepieces and diagonals etc make it an impossible task.

I worry about doing the exit tube though as I only have 21mm diameter as it is there although I like what you've done with the secondary baffle

The Russian maks are better baffled although I've been informed by my better half that I'm not in the market for an Intes Micro . Not new anyway...

[JamesF]

I rely on those reflections to be able to find the target when it's not quite in the field of view

James

[Cath]

Oh dear. I have visions of visitors arriving at your hours in six months time and finding the entire living room has been turned matt black

lol

I did know someone a few years back that did paint their entire flat black.

[JamesF]

It's just occurred to me Cath that there's a mask you can use for assisting with collimation of an SCT. Just trying to find a reference for it.

James

[JamesF]

Aha! A Duncan Mask. That's the one. I've never tried it so I don't know how good it will be, but it might help.

James

[Cath]

Just got back in, always nice to to be home.

Thank you James, I don't remember hearing about the Duncan Mask, so have looked it up. Think I might try this!

Duncan Mask

[Cath]

ok, just took a new after flocking photo with a bit more similar sun intensity, although this time we have less sun.

Before flocking (left) .. After flocking less sun light (middle) .. After flocking more sun light (right)

The air quality has been about the same over the past 3 days for these photo's I think (houses are about 1 mile away), the flocking definitely appears to have made a difference to day time usage, at least that's how it appears to me.

I've still yet to recollimate after stripping the scope down, so we'll see after I've done that.

[JamesF]

Absolutely agree, Cath. The second picture shows far better contrast than the first. That's quite a marked difference.

James

[Cath]

I think your right James. I'm a happy bunny anyway

I took the photos with the DSLR directly on the back of the scope, no barlow, no diagonal, no reducer etc, scope in doors looking through the upstairs bedroom double glazed window. I can't see past the garden fence with the scope in the garden, need the height to see a distant object to test with.

So guys, if I can do it, anyone can

[JamesF]

I'm having serious thoughts about doing the Mak now, though it does seem a bit overkill for such a small scope. I'll definitely work on building up the bottle to do the C9.25

James

[faulksy]

What I would say is if you do then brush the velour (unless you use flock board I guess) over first if you can to remove any possible loose fibres. I dragged a ruler over mine a few times (with a bit of downward pressure), you get what looks like a fine black dust (loos'ish fibres) coming off.

I found it a bit addictive once I'd started, everything I could flock I did - the whole main tube, inside and outside edges of the small front baffle around the secondary mirror and the entire length (inside only) of the main rear baffle that goes through the primary mirror. That main baffle was the worse culprit of all I found so had to be done.

I found no scratches, no marks, no rush, no un matt black surfaces in the scope, it was still like new inside after owning it for 15 months (from new). A good educational project striping it down and flocking I'd say (for anyone).

thanks for the tip cath,dont want loose black fibers everywere

[faulksy]

I'm having serious thoughts about doing the Mak now, though it does seem a bit overkill for such a small scope. I'll definitely work on building up the bottle to do the C9.25

James

me to james, but i think it would be a good idea if you did yours first, how does that sound

[JamesF]

me to james, but i think it would be a good idea if you did yours first, how does that sound

I'm yet to be convinced

What would be something of a fag but perhaps well worth knowing for people considering doing all the work would be how much flocking each component improves the eventual image. It's a fag because it means reassembling the OTA after each change, but if you know for example that flocking the baffle tube makes a big difference then it would be worth attempting even if it is a pain. If it doesn't make very much difference because not much scattered light can reach that far then you'd probably not bother.

What's required first is some effective way of measuring "light scatter" at the eyepiece.

James

[Cath]

tut, I could have done the photo tests at each stage whilst I was doing mine, never thought too though. I'd have been quite willing to do so being as the 6SE is so easy to take apart.

I spose ideally you want two identical scopes, one flocked, one not, take photos at same time (within a minute or two) using same camera on same mount.