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Flocking: worthwhile?


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Hi... More beginners' questions I'm afraid,,, would I notice much difference if I flocked the inside of my SW 200 Dob? Is it a worthwhile exercise on a beginner's telescope? And is it actually difficult (I'm pretty cack-handed!)? Thanks, Julian.

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Hi Julian,

Many people on here folk their scopes, most do say it makes a difference. After doing mine I would say its more fiderly than difficult although it does involve removing the mirrors.

As you say that you are pretty-cack-handed it might be best to leave for now, you will still get great views though your scope.

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every little helps Julian,and it is not that difficult really and it is a relatively cheap upgrade.FLO sells the self adhesive flocking material or you can get it locally in Wilkinsons.I was afraid to touch the mirrors,but it is only a few bolts to release so you cant harm the mirrors.You will need to re-colimate your scope once done flocking.Browse through the forums,there are a few topics on this.

Good luck and clear skies.

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It is quite fiddly. I must be a philistine but I have to say the change must have been very subtle. I'd do it if you were bored. I'm sure I'll get lots of folk on saying it was noticeable, but it is, as I say, subtle...

Barry

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Unless you can get comparative views side by side its pretty hard to say but I've taken the view with astronomy that all the changes you make with your dob makes an incremental improvement to your experience so it is worth doing. I have a 200p as well and wrote a how to guide with loads of photos to show how i did the flocking. Can't find the link but it's on sgl somewhere. Good luck anyway.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2

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Someone (Cath?) posted some comparison photos when they flocked their C8 earlier this year and the increase in contrast is quite clear. I wouldn't be surprised if some OTAs didn't benefit more than others however.

James

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Thanks all ... Appreciate your replies. I'll look for previous posts. I think I'll try flocking when I'm a bit more confident. More generally, any other tips for pimping and improving (if that's the right word) my Dob? Anti-condensation maybe; it's becoming a nuisance now. My Telrad fogs up really quickly and becomes unusable. I've had a Telrad condensation guard on back-order from FLO for weeks but no sign yet.

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hi.........

Matt black paint, non-reflective or Flocking material can be installed to help reduce unwanted reflections from stray lights (ie. street lighting or neighbours security lights) entering the tube, which could reflect off the internal surfaces and possibly end up in the view finder, giving a less than optimal image. Flocking reduces the reflections by absorption and being non-reflective.

Depending on the materials used, if its a textured finish, would that not also absorb dust, dew ect? ( It would need Dysoning unless your still Hoovering to clean the internals?). If you imagine you could get inside your tube, and by standing on the mirror(Oh No!) looking up, if you can see any signs of stray light, It can see you! and will enter the tube and do its nasty work. However if your partner was to come along and fit a snood / Extension Hood (made out of sleeping foam used by campers) you`d have less chance of seeing that stray light, so nothing enters the tube.

I would sugest the Snood would be the first choice to see if any improvement exists. thats what ill be doing when my Skyliner arrives this week. take care.

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attn: stevetynant. Thats a great description for those who wish to flock, but for me its the best detailed guide Ive seen for this scope, especially the closeups, as I`m trying to ascertain the possibility of using the original finderscope position to fix a modified Reflex Finder scope. Nice one.

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What a great guide to flocking, Steve ... I almost feel confident enough to try it, though collimation from scratch scares me! I'm interested in the replacement primary and secondary adjusting screws you have... Where do you get them and is it easy to replace the original screws? Julian

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Hi Julian. The replacement screws were from bobs knobs in America. A lot of people on here use them but to be honest I'm sure There must be cheaper alternatives about.£30 odd quid for a few screws still seems a bit excessive lol

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

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flocking (the full tube) has to my eyes both an aesthetic appeal (the tube looks lovely and uniformly black when you look own it) and also a more subtle performance improvement. as above there are two main areas to flock to get the best results 1) on the tube wall opposite the focuser (flock areas you can see through the focuser with no eyepiece in). I think David meant increase contrast not decrease BTW. 2) the bottom 6" or so of the tube near the primary. only stray light in the light path/cone can really affect the contrast and these two areas are where it matters.

in all cases, the mirrors should be removed. taking off flocking that's stuck to your optics is more stressful I imagine than recollimating from scratch

personally, I'd flock the whole tube; you may as well do so. people (me included) pay hundreds of £s to get a marginal improvement in eyepiece performance so why not spend £20 to get the a similar enhancement in contrast.

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if you live in an area with light pollution, you will probably notice quite a difference!

as an example - very non scientific - i shone a laser down the tube of my celestron before and after flocking and you could definitely see a massive difference in reflectivity. How much this equates to in real terms when observing? Who knows, but cant hurt!

post-26554-0-03340000-1378723955_thumb.j

post-26554-0-25342300-1378723968_thumb.j

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If you do flock, try to take before and after photos, it's good to see the difference it makes (if any), it's interesting to see the difference it makes with various different types of scope I think.

Here's the before and after images I took during the daytime when I did my SCT ..

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