How to illuminate a reticule?

[DannyHarvey]

I'm trying to illuminate a polar scope.

Can anyone tell me, does the light (eg LED)  have to in the path of the polar scopes optics or can it be just off to the side?

regards

Dan

[Alien 13]

Hi i found it best to the side with a diffuser to stop any direct light hitting the polarscope i used a white pill bottle to spread the light around.

Alan

[Tonys]

This is the one I made. It's just a piece of Homebase 32mm waste pipe (which happens to be a good fit in the polarscope aperture on the front of the mount), with a hole in it to accept an old red pen cap, with a cheap led tealight borrowed from my wife in the other end.mI played around with the depth of the pen cap in the hole to get the best reticule lighting without drowning out Polaris and glued the parts together.

[Tonys]

Sorry it's upside down!

[DannyHarvey]

not a problem! 

I have found some old black piping in the garage that fits my hole - I guess I need to put something reflective inside then...

[Alien 13]

not a problem! 

I have found some old black piping in the garage that fits my hole - I guess I need to put something reflective inside then...

That should work you might find that aluminium baking foil will do to scatter the light.

Alan

[DannyHarvey]

so its safe to say, its the reflected light around the tube that illuminates, not the direct light from the LED.

I have rummaged around my wifes "woman draw" and I have got my tealight of sorts - its small glass bird that changes colour from an LED - just need to ditch the bird and change the LED to a single colour one!

[JamesF]

Yes, you don't want direct light.  It would wash out everything else.  You just want the minimum amount of scattered light to make the reticle visible.

James

[DannyHarvey]

thanks guys!

I have everything I need to put one together now. Will bolt it all together at work tomorrow.

[cosmological]

I've come up with something very simple, no bolting or drilling required. I'm in the process of taking photos of my rig up and will put them up as soon as I get time.

[DannyHarvey]

looking forward to it!

[DannyHarvey]

Here's my effort - thanks to all the good ideas from you guys. 

Parts:

Bit of old hoover pipe (great because it tapers around 35mm)

Old tea light/toy with flashing LED

New LED that doesn't flash

Some silvery sticky tape

Lets hope it works....

[DannyHarvey]

May have to back the LED off a bit....

[Tonys]

The Homebase 32mm waste pipe fits well and is white, which works well to diffuse the light. My "tealight" is rgb, but the red pen cap serves as a filter so only red light reaches the reticule. This means that the polarscope view is alternating red and unlit but I don't find this a problem. I was careful to drill a hole in the waste pipe to make the pen cap a push fit, which allowed me to try different positions to get the best compromise between reticule lighting and visibility of Polaris.

[DannyHarvey]

its amazing how resourceful we are!