Grey Days - Dust Free Chamber

Dr_Ju_ju · May 14, 2021

For those of us that do Astrophotography, we spend a lot of money on the cameras, filters, etc. but even with our best endeavours, we still end up with dust bunnies somewhere in the optical chain, requiring that we have to take flats, to process them out....

On the front 'open', elements lenses\mirrors etc. there's not much that can be done, apart from some basic 'house-keeping'.

But when it comes down to the 'closed areas', e.g. between the image sensor and camera 'front window', where ZWO fit their desiccant tablets, which periodically need to be re-charged\replaced, and then to the filter wheels etc. even with my best efforts I still end up with some miniscule bit of fluff, right in the middle of the frame GRRRR.

So to try & minimise the problem & after a quick search around, I decided to knock-up a 'dust free chamber', using some cheap components, 3D printed parts, and a household vacuum cleaner...

The basic enclosure is a Wham 45L box (Tesco £7), main Air filter (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111275363570?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2648 £9), bag air filter (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253984300170?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2648 £9 for 3off) & long sleeve gloves (https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324300228591?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=513372382094&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2648 £4), all other parts I printed of had leftover from old decoration jobs (Wickes sealing strip in the lid rebate).

The only real problem I had, was that the enclosure is made of a very brittle plastic, so to cut the holes, I used an old Antex soldering Iron, with very fine pointed tip, i.e. a cheaper version of a 'hot-knife', and for what they are, are very over-priced....

If anyone is interested in knocking one up, I've included the gcode files & the OpenScad 'masters'.