From: "Richard Ozer" 
To: "Shane LaPierre" ,
        
Reply-To: "Richard Ozer" 


I have a 12" aluminum tube.  I decided to powder coat the exterior;
and for the interior, I used a layer of black primer, a layer of Black
"American Accents" (faux granite texture), and then coated the
whole thing with flat black paint. The faux granite acts as a cheap light
baffle.  It's a good idea to use metal etch or some type of acidic prep
prior to coating or painting.

Thin cork sounds like a nice idea.  One of the things I notice is that heat
transfers through my painted tube quite easily; placing my hand on the side
of the tube causes very noticable ripples when star testing.

RO

----- Original Message -----
From: "Shane LaPierre" 
To: 
Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2003 7:59 AM Subject: ATM Fix up an aluminum tube


>
> I have an 8" newt that's in a truss tube now, and I'm going to put it in a
> used piece of 9" diameter alum to make it a little more adaptable for
> imaging purposes.  How do you fix up the exterior of an aluminum tube?
>
> Also the actual diameter of the mirror is around 7 3/4" & the
id of the tube
> is 8 11/16".  That leaves less than 1" clearance which brings me to my
> question about finishing the inside.  I can either just repaint it flat
> black, or line it with cork... but there's not a lot of room to work with.
> Any opinions?  As far as thermals this thing is mounted full-time in a
> non-climate controlled observatory so it doesn't take long to cool off.  I'm
> thinking the cork will help insulate the optical path from my hands.
>
> Shane LaPierre
> http://www.geocities.com/stellar1972
>
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