Tonight is the night..

[iceman (Mike)]

Tonight is the night to flock... (and clean the mirror). Clouds aplenty, so no viewing or imaging, and I can do it in the loungeroom while watching hewitt in the tennis.

Wish me luck!

Of course you can expect photos and writeup on the projects page by the end of the week

[gbeal]

Good luck then

[Starkler (Geoff)]

You'll be a collimation expert in no time Mike

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Hey Mike,

Don't let the missus wash the mirror with the dishes while you are distracted watching Hewitt win!

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Hey Mike
I've done the mirror clean thing a few times.
Its a cinch & does make a difference when the mirroe has been badly coated with dust or salt spray (I have experienced both)

[iceman (Mike)]

All done, the mirror cleaning was quite easy really, certainly not the dramatic and scary experience I expected it to be.

The flocking was harder and more awkward than I expected it to be; a combination of the long tube and the adhesive substance I used, made it harder than it really should've been. The contact cement didn't stay as sticky as I expected it and so I had to do it in batches rather than long strips at once.

As a result, I also ended up doing around the mirror area and across from the focuser as the main areas, with one long strip down the length of the tube as well.

Also the left-over cement wasn't as clean as I'd hoped, also a result of my shoddy handywork. oh well, lessons learned

Here's the before and after, not sure if it really shows the difference, but just from looking through the focuser (inside, it's cloudy out), it does look darker and much less reflective light bouncing around.

[iceman (Mike)]

After..

oh and btw, the mirror looks much nicer and cleaner.. i'm sure it'll make a slight difference, and wasn't that scary at all.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Not being a Dob owner I'm a bit puzzled over this. Why aren't the OTAs sold already black on the inside? Or am I missing something?

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Good God Mike,

and you said my photo was huge!

Repeatedly scrolling the scroll bar left and right just to read your message made me sea-sick!

lol!

[rumples riot]

Nice job Mike. A tip with the contact adhesive, apply the contact to both surfaces and let it go slightly tack dry, then put it together. It will stick like you know what to a blanket. This will mean you can do the whole lot in one hit.

Good stuff.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Can you increase you screen resolution Ken to 1152 X 864. It should all fit in then.

Paul's certainly got that right Mike, so be careful to lay it without any wrinkles or you'll end up with a tube that looks like an 80 year old on the inside. Can be very difficult to get contact adhesive up the way Psul describes it, once "contact" is made.

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Paul,

I don't know why they don't paint them black in factories. Dumb isn't it!


Mike,

You will certainly see a difference in reflectivity when viewing.

[iceman (Mike)]

and you said my photo was huge

It's only 800x600.

Not being a Dob owner I'm a bit puzzled over this. Why aren't the OTAs sold already black on the inside? Or am I missing something?

I agree, I guess it's just to keep the costs down, 1 less thing to do.

Although I'd pay an extra $20 if they painted it flat/matt black to begin with.

[ving (David)]

on ya icey

hewitt didnt win tho... bugger

I spent the night trying to fix the puter.
when booting it freezes at "varifying dmi pool" then tries to boot from cd?

got some fixes to try tonight tho.

seems its all bios related.

stoopid puters!

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Paul,

I set the monitor to 1152x864 and it spat the dummy.

took 1 1/2 hours to fix it. Unfortunately it only works on this stupid small size.

Was worth the attempt though, thanks.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Sorry about that Don't ya just *hate* that. At least you had time to sit down and have a couple of beers.