Light Shroud

[Nick-In-Ireland]

I have made a tempory light shroud for my Heritage 130p out of card and duct tape, it is the type that slides inside the tube when the trus tube section is collapsed and does not need to be removed, this works ok but the card casts paper dust onto the primary mirror over time.

I have an exercise mat that is begging to be cut up & is perfect for the job but it is grey, is this an absolute no no, does a light shroud have to be black and no other colour ?

[Pan Euro]

Can't see color being a problem as its job is to keep extraneous light out.

[cjdawson]

Yes and no.

Yes - it has to be black so that there are no reflections from the mat at all.  You'll see plenty of people on here flocking the inside of their scope for this exact reason.

No - We're talking about a matt here, so the surface won't be reflective.  It's primary job isn't to keep light out, it's primary job is to stop heat from radiating away from the scope too fast.  For that the colour makes no difference.

The secondary effect of it keeping stray light out is a nice to have, and yes it does make a difference, but it's not something to get hung up about.  Besides, there's nothing stopping you from flocking the mat if you really want too ;-)

Personally, I wouldn't worry about the colour except from an aesthetic point of view.  When I did it year ago, I used a green camping mat and it worked great, until something happened to the mat, and switched to a metal shield instead.