Flocking Heck

[scarp15]

With a mirror clean due and no plans for this Sunday, other than batten down the hatches for the approaching storm, it was an opportunity to undertake a bit more tube flocking. The tube to my 8" reflector I'd previously partially flocked and from past experience fully flocking a 14" solid tube reflector, knew that good planning and patience would be a necessary virtue for this task. 

Perhaps it is the internal textured tube paint applied to OOUK tubes, but adhering firmly in place (in a narrow space) the material can in itself become a little frustrating and flop off., with bits of flaky paint then losing its stickiness. Also sometimes precision cutting, measuring can be a bit botched, leading to some wastage. However practice makes perfect and some of it at least was intact, making a very noticeable difference to the interior contrast. 

When out observing, flocking can make a marked difference I think, but applying it does require time, patience and possibly a bit of wastage in the process.   

Here is a picture following the mirrors being reinstalled, you can just make out a streaky light bit in the middle that has not yet been done.

Footnote: the paddling pool was a bit overkill; had more applicably been used with a former much larger 14" mirror for which was ideal, so thought why not. 

Who else is about to, or has recently undertaken this task and if so, how did you find the procedure?

 

[PeterStudz]

I flocked my 8” Dob 2 years ago when I was still very much a beginner. For me it was far easier than I thought and after I’d stripped the tube down the actual flocking took under a couple of hours. In fact I had the whole thing back together, collimated and observing the moon as it got dark. 
 

I did the whole tube in 3 sections following the advice of someone on here. Although I found a head-torch useful when sticking the sections down. 

 

Edited January 21 by PeterStudz

[wookie1965]

I flocked my 10" Celestron Starsense before Christmas easier than I thought. I took the mirror cell out and flicked right up the the spider. Only took 20ins. 

[scarp15]

3 hours ago, PeterStudz said:

I flocked my 8” Dob 2 years ago when I was still very much a beginner. For me it was far easier than I thought and after I’d stripped the tube down the actual flocking took under a couple of hours. In fact I had the whole thing back together, collimated and observing the moon as it got dark. 
 

I did the whole tube in 3 sections following the advice of someone on here. Although I found a head-torch useful when sticking the sections down. 

 

Good going and yes a headtorch is necessary.

[scarp15]

2 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

I flocked my 10" Celestron Starsense before Christmas easier than I thought. I took the mirror cell out and flicked right up the the spider. Only took 20ins. 

Great, wow 20 min good stuff.

[DaveL59]

The trick Johninderby promoted was to use a piece of plastic/acrylic sheet that could be cut to fit the OTA as a liner, then flock that and re-insert into the OTA, job done and no adhesion problems. That's what I also did on my little Tal-M, much easier than trying to install self-adhesive material down an 80mm tube, esp since on the TAL adhesion can be a real problem. Upside too is its easy to remove should you need to, just slide out the liner after removing the spider etc 🙂 

[PeterStudz]

Yes, I saw and thought about the acrylic sheet thing. I can see how it would be easier if trying to flock within a narrow tube. But for my 8” Dob it was so easy and straightforward to just stick it down the length of the whole tube I couldn’t see any benefit. I also flocked the inside of the focuser drawtube. Not sure if that was necessary but it was so quick and easy I thought that I might as well try. 

[wookie1965]

12 hours ago, scarp15 said:

Great, wow 20 min good stuff.

I have flocked 3 scopes 6" a 8" and now the 10" so I am well practiced 😁

[doublevodka]

Personally, I've been using this stuff - https://amzn.eu/d/6xYdvUW yes, it's not technically flocking material, but it's a lot better than the grey paint in most OTA's, it's cheap and in A4 sheet size so quite easy to work with, although if I was doing a large OTA I'd probably invest in this as it looks easy to use and similar to the methods mentioned above - https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telescope-flocking-material/protostar-flockboard-flocking-board-10cm-increments-custom-cut.html

[scarp15]

22 hours ago, doublevodka said:

Personally, I've been using this stuff - https://amzn.eu/d/6xYdvUW yes, it's not technically flocking material, but it's a lot better than the grey paint in most OTA's, it's cheap and in A4 sheet size so quite easy to work with, although if I was doing a large OTA I'd probably invest in this as it looks easy to use and similar to the methods mentioned above - https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telescope-flocking-material/protostar-flockboard-flocking-board-10cm-increments-custom-cut.html

That's interesting, had overlooked this option. I ordered a sheet of black velour flocking, yet the sheets of Protostar Flocking board certainly would had been preferred. 

[doublevodka]

21 minutes ago, scarp15 said:

That's interesting, had overlooked this option. I ordered a sheet of black velour flocking, yet the sheets of Protostar Flocking board certainly would had been preferred. 

It seems to be a popular option in the US, but FLO started stocking it a while back so thought it may come in handy 👍