Just finished flocking the SW200

[Astro_Baby]

Yippeeee !! Finally finsihed the flocking on the SW200 and it looks really neat.

I did the job a few nights ago but I have had a few problems with seams lifting and bubbles appearing for no apparent reason. Tonite I took the whole thing to bits again and applied a bit of glue to the seam edges, rubbed the whole thing down with the back of a spoon to force the flocking down tight and also upped the the number of expansion slits and it seems to have cured the problems.

I'm really pleased with the job I did round the focuser. As the scope has a Moonlite fitted there used to be an ugly gap from inside the tube where the Sky-Watchers larger focus tube used to be which allowed you to see the back of the Moonlite which is anodised black and well made but a teensy bit shiny and made it look obviously like a conversion. Operationally it was fine but I like stuff to be just so.

Anyway I made up some paper templates and applied two layers of flocking to bring the back of the focuser level with the inside of the tube.

Pic to the left below shows the back of the focuser with the neat job but I had to overdo the flash to show it which makes the flocking look a bit grey - in actual fact its picth black in there.

While I had the scope in bits I painted all the internal metalwork fittings like the nuts with blackboard paint and also painted the back and sides of the secondary, its holder and the spider vanes to make the whole thing non reflective. Scary stuff painting the shoulders of the secondary but it came out ok.

The second pic below shows how effective it is - under normal light you cant see a thing down the tube and from a few feet away the spider and secondary are almost invisible against the flocking.

[philsail1]

Quite a tricky job flocking a Newtonian, but it looks a very neat job you've done there "Astro Baby!" - especially around the focuser!

regards,

philsail1

[MikeP]

Very neat and tidy. I may be doing the same thing soon. Did you find a way to mask the secondary or just use a steady hand?

Mike

[George]

That looks flocking black :laughing2: , nice job tho I'm sure you will notice the better contrast.

[Astronut]

So you've persevered and finished - well done. I like what you've done with the focuser baseplate. As you know, I flocked mine too with a polo shaped piece of flocking paper but I didn't make it flush with the inside of the tube with extra layers like you've done. Mine's slightly recessed leaving the edge of the hole on the tube visible but I'm happy with it. Maybe a touch of blackboard paint around the visible edge will finish it off nicely or I could do what you've done and add an extra layer of flocking paper to make it flush but I couldn't be bothered taking it all apart again - knowing my luck, if I did that, the clouds would clear off

Here's hoping you get a chance to compare the difference before you forget any recent views.

I forgot to mention in the PM's I sent that it's a good idea to get the hoover out and vacuum the flocking paper before reassembling the optics - it just gets rid of any bits of lint and fluff picked up during the process. Better in the hoover bag than on the mirror

[Astro_Baby]

Painting the secondary was SCARY :shock: - I just used a very small art brush with a fine tip and went slowly. I have seen this done before by putting the scondary face down on something soft ( Kitchen roll for instance ) and then sparying from above very lightly and wait for it to dry then spary lightly again and so on until the black builds up to be solid. I thought that would be too scary plus it would be difficult with the secondary attached to its holder.

I used a lint roller round the flocking material after it was done to take off any stray bits of fluff and so forth.

Deep in the tube you can see under a decent light a rib where the two rolls overlap but its not really a problem.

I found the actual flocking pretty easy but its nerve wracking getting the primary out.

If anyone else does this for a Sky-Watcher I can tell you the front cap will fit easily over the flocking paper but the rear cap with the mirror cell wont and you'll have to cut the flocking paper a bit short at the mirror end.

This weekend - depending on time - I may disassemble the primary end of things and apply blackboard paint or flock around the primary and flock around the baseplate element thet you can see when looking down the scope to finish it off.

[ChrisEdu]

But have you used the Nexstar yet?!

[Astro_Baby]

Nope the baby 4SE is sat there looking mournful as the SW200 gets all the love and attention.

I did give the 4SE a quick run last night but hey guess what - just as the SkyAlign alignment completed the jolly old clouds rolled in majestically ( sighs )

[Doc]

Great job Mel should improve your views defintely.

[ChrisEdu]

Nope the baby 4SE is sat there looking mournful as the SW200 gets all the love and attention.

I did give the 4SE a quick run last night but hey guess what - just as the SkyAlign alignment completed the jolly old clouds rolled in majestically ( sighs )

You need to change your nic from Astrobabe to Cloudgatherer!

[Greg]

Nicely done...i'm hoping that it's a good omen if last night's sky is anything to go by..

Top job..