Home Made Solar Filter
Posted: Tue May 10, 2016 6:53 pm
So I made myself a Solar Filter for my telescope.
I didn't take any pictures during the process besides when the cardboard was all put together and after I was finished with my final design.
But, I started with some 2mil Double sided silver reflecting mylar. A single sheet of the mylar was not enough to view even with my eyes, so I next tried two which was better, but then with three it was perfect. I then used my small crappy broken 7x50 binoculars with the three layers of mylar and it looked good, so I moved forward with the plan.
I started with wanting to make a filter for the 25x100 Celestron Binoculars. I found that the plastic cover for CD/DVD spindles was wider than the opening of the single tube on the binoculars. I cut about 1.5inches of the plastic spindle off and cut it so i could then glue the two ends together and make the diameter match the binoculars only a little wider to fit the three layers of mylar. After the glue on the plastic ring ends dried I attempted to fit the ring over the mylar on one of the tubes of the binoculars. That didn't work out too well as the mylar just would not sit right with the ring around them it just buckled too much and generally looked really bad and didn't allow for easy application or easy removal or reuse, the mylar got all scratched up and made it look even worse.
That is when I decided to use the telescope for the next attempt, but with cardboard as the base for it. I took one of the bazillion boxes that we have stacked up and took the largest part and put it over the tube. Used a marker to trace the outside of the tube for a line to cut on. I left about the width of the cardboard from the inside of the marker line. This was so after I cut out the circle, I had space for the cardboard rim that will go around the edge to hold the cover onto the tube. I just cut strips of cardboard for the cover rim and taped them on from the top onto the rim from the outside. Little strips of packing tape going around the edge. I had to use two strips of cardboard, so where I had to make a joint, I taped the inside also to give it a little more strength. Once the rim was on I cut out the opening for the mylar to let a little light through. I think I did about an ince away from the edge to give it some strength and have a nice enough opening. I also built a second cover to go over the first one to make the aperture smaller if the larger one turned out to let too much light in on the 130mm mirror.
I ended up not needing it as the "full" aperture actually let just the right amount of light in to see everything.
I didn't take any pictures during the process besides when the cardboard was all put together and after I was finished with my final design.
But, I started with some 2mil Double sided silver reflecting mylar. A single sheet of the mylar was not enough to view even with my eyes, so I next tried two which was better, but then with three it was perfect. I then used my small crappy broken 7x50 binoculars with the three layers of mylar and it looked good, so I moved forward with the plan.
I started with wanting to make a filter for the 25x100 Celestron Binoculars. I found that the plastic cover for CD/DVD spindles was wider than the opening of the single tube on the binoculars. I cut about 1.5inches of the plastic spindle off and cut it so i could then glue the two ends together and make the diameter match the binoculars only a little wider to fit the three layers of mylar. After the glue on the plastic ring ends dried I attempted to fit the ring over the mylar on one of the tubes of the binoculars. That didn't work out too well as the mylar just would not sit right with the ring around them it just buckled too much and generally looked really bad and didn't allow for easy application or easy removal or reuse, the mylar got all scratched up and made it look even worse.
That is when I decided to use the telescope for the next attempt, but with cardboard as the base for it. I took one of the bazillion boxes that we have stacked up and took the largest part and put it over the tube. Used a marker to trace the outside of the tube for a line to cut on. I left about the width of the cardboard from the inside of the marker line. This was so after I cut out the circle, I had space for the cardboard rim that will go around the edge to hold the cover onto the tube. I just cut strips of cardboard for the cover rim and taped them on from the top onto the rim from the outside. Little strips of packing tape going around the edge. I had to use two strips of cardboard, so where I had to make a joint, I taped the inside also to give it a little more strength. Once the rim was on I cut out the opening for the mylar to let a little light through. I think I did about an ince away from the edge to give it some strength and have a nice enough opening. I also built a second cover to go over the first one to make the aperture smaller if the larger one turned out to let too much light in on the 130mm mirror.
I ended up not needing it as the "full" aperture actually let just the right amount of light in to see everything.