Baader astro solar film problem!

[mondo99]

Disappointed ..... haven't used my Baader Astro Solar Film filter (home made) for some time. Today I took it out of storage to use tomorrow (transit of Mercury) only to find numerous brown rust like spots all over it. These rust type spots let sunlight through unfiltered and so the filter is now not useable...  

I did not realise that rusting was a possibility of this film...has anybody else come across this at all??

[DRT]

Can't say I have seen this before.

How big is the piece of film that you have? Perhaps you could make a filter with a smaller apperture from a piece that is undamaged? You don't need a big aperture to view the sun, particularly in white light.

If you post a photograph of what you have and the scope you are fitting it to I am sure someone here will help you create something that will at least allow you to view the transit

[Knighty2112]

Bad luck mate. Perhaps like DRT said you can salvage a smaller area to use on you scope. Hope you can manage to get a view, if not there are sites that will be showing live, so at the worst you can view it like this. 

[Joe12345]

Yes, it says on the instructions that if you leave a fingerprint on the film it can rust. I hope you still get to see the transit though!

[Bizibilder]

I doubt it is rust - far more likely something has dropped/splashed onto it and there has been a reaction with the film.  As said you may be able to recover it.  You could put a dab of thick black paint on each spot to cover it.  This will not spoil your image and will make the film useable for photography (but not for visual - just in case!).