Celestron 10 inch starsense

[wookie1965]

New springs eventually turned up much better now and flocked the tube. 

[Sunshine]

Flock it, I think I’m going to do that, too!.

[wookie1965]

6 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Flock it, I think I’m going to do that, too!.

It was easier than I thought did take two of us one at the front and one at the back. Took the primary mirror out and took the focuser off but being big my son could get his hands through the spider to do it. Two roles  of flocking 1 metre long 45cms wide

[bosun21]

I was considering flocking my 12” SL dobsonian but at 1500mm fl I can’t get my arm half way down the tube. I foresaw a wrinkled mess occurring so I gave it a miss.

[wookie1965]

28 minutes ago, bosun21 said:

I was considering flocking my 12” SL dobsonian but at 1500mm fl I can’t get my arm half way down the tube. I foresaw a wrinkled mess occurring so I gave it a miss.

Doesn't matter if it is wrinkled to be honest  it will work anyway..

 

[Neil H]

I did my 8 inch years back has a few wrinkles but it does not affect how it works

[Ratlet]

Winkles aren't an issue, but I did it this way:

 

Mostly because I used the same method with my 5" Newtonian where it's much tighter inside and watching videos of people doing it made it look awkward.

[PeterStudz]

I did my 8” Dob last year and managed to do it wrinkle free. But wrinkles aren’t going to matter and you could argue that they might actually help. Eg some telescopes have a series of ridges inside & down the tube, to help knock out any reflections

[bosun21]

Everything I’ve read states that the gains from flocking are minimal and the same can be attained from only flocking the area around and opposite the focuser. Thoughts?

[wookie1965]

I have read those but when I did my 8" many years ago the difference was very noticeable deep sky objects where a lot easier to spot such as the Ring Nebula Contrast was totally different that's why I have done it to this. 

[PeterStudz]

The Skywatcher 200p that I flocked was a restoration. The inside had some white staining/marks (see pics) that however hard I tried to clean would not come off. It kind of made sense to flock the whole thing. The result is nice to look at and if nothing else satisfying! And I found it very easy, the extra cost minimal, so why not? While I was at it I even flocked the inside of the focuser draw-tube (literally a 2 min job as I had it all apart anyway), painted the outside of the draw-tube and back/edge of the secondary. 

Whatever I did certainly improved contrast on the planets and light scatter when viewing bright objects like the moon. It’s minimal but with planetary you need every bit of help with colour contrast that you can get. Mind, I’m not convinced that it made any noticeable difference on DSO, but I’m in Bortle 7 so DSO aren’t great at the best of times. 

I can’t say if doing the whole OTA makes any difference compared to flocking just a small area. But would I do similar again when I get another Dob? As it turned out so well for me I certainly would!

 

 

Edited June 11, 2023 by PeterStudz

[wookie1965]

26 minutes ago, PeterStudz said:

The Skywatcher 200p that I flocked was a restoration. The inside had some white staining/marks (see pics) that however hard I tried to clean would not come off. It kind of made sense to flock the whole thing. The result is nice to look at and if nothing else satisfying! And I found it very easy, the extra cost minimal, so why not? While I was at it I even flocked the inside of the focuser draw-tube (literally a 2 min job as I had it all apart anyway), painted the outside of the draw-tube and back/edge of the secondary. 

Whatever I did certainly improved contrast on the planets and light scatter when viewing bright objects like the moon. It’s minimal but with planetary you need every bit of help with colour contrast that you can get. Mind, I’m not convinced that it made any noticeable difference on DSO, but I’m in Bortle 7 so DSO aren’t great at the best of times. 

I can’t say if doing the while OTA makes any difference compared to flocking just a small area. But would I do similar again when I get another Dob? As it turned out so well for me I certainly would!

 

 

Big difference 

[Ratlet]

Because of the method I use with a backing board I have to flock the whole thing.  I've also read conflicting views on whether you need to do the whole thing.

There is something satisfying about looking in the tube and seeing nothing apart from blackness and the mirror.

[bosun21]

Guess I just need to get longer arms from somewhere then🤔.

[PeterStudz]

5 hours ago, Ratlet said:

There is something satisfying about looking in the tube and seeing nothing apart from blackness and the mirror.

I agree here. There’s a lot to be said about feeling good with the job that you’ve done. 

[PeterStudz]

1 hour ago, bosun21 said:

Guess I just need to get longer arms from somewhere then🤔.

If you decide to stick it down to the whole tube there are various ways of going about it. Not sure what’s best and it might depend on the size of your OTA. 

I went with a suggestion on here (it was for the same OTA) which was to flock in 3 stages - top, bottom & finally middle section. Top & bottom were relatively easy. Doing and reaching the middle was a little awkward but when doing it you felt like you were on the home straight. And there was also the benefit of gaining experience on the easier sections.

And I know that some recommend doing it using long strips of flocking material. I can see how that would work. 

[doublevodka]

16 hours ago, bosun21 said:

I was considering flocking my 12” SL dobsonian but at 1500mm fl I can’t get my arm half way down the tube. I foresaw a wrinkled mess occurring so I gave it a miss.

In theory with this stuff you don't have to stick it down so maybe an option? - https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telescope-flocking-material/protostar-flockboard-flocking-board-10cm-increments-custom-cut.html