Vacuum seal a telescope?

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Mibmom
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Vacuum seal a telescope?

Post by Mibmom »

Hi guys.
In an effort to keep my telescopes in good condition, I was considering vacuum sealing.
I wanted to use a Vacuum Seal bag and suck out the air.
Would this be OK?
Wanted to do this on a Celestron Travel Scope 70mm (Refractor).
Thank you in advance.
Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain't comin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me
~ Serenity
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Clifford60
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Re: Vacuum seal a telescope?

Post by Clifford60 »

You can do that but it will be better to get a good quality vacuum bag (don't leak easily) as well as putting an drying agent (Hippo) and a RH meter inside the bag. Alternatively, you can put the scope in a big container (those big Toyogo box) with drying agent. Or like what I did, remove the lens cell and keep the lens cell in a small container and then in the dehumidifier, the tube and others just keep in a covered box to prevent it getting dusty.
Hardwarezone
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Re: Vacuum seal a telescope?

Post by Hardwarezone »

Vacuum bag only only reduce the air volume and dust.
When the air is stagnant over long term and naturally humid it will be perfect for fungus to grow.

Now the smaller electronic dry cabinets can be bought online during promotion or use discount coupon like lazada
About $50+
Can put small item like camera or binoculars but not full sized telescope
When the user don't want to keep replacing the "thirsty hippo clones" chemical dehumidifier , can consider carefully cutting a hole at the toyogo box and transplant the peltier module from the electronic dry cabinet to the bigger toyogo box.

The hippo thing doesn't incinerate at the garbage processing site, not environmentally friendly.
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cloud_cover
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Re: Vacuum seal a telescope?

Post by cloud_cover »

A small scope like that can be easily stored in a larger Ziplock bag. I bought mine at Daiso, 2 pieces at $2 which was large enough to house my Orion 80mm ST with telescope rings. For dehumidifying I placed some Silica gel in an empty teapot sized teabag which again I bought from Daiso. This kept the RH at 30+ % most of the time, according to a cheap hygrometer I placed inside as well. Easily taken out and replaced after a night's use :)
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Mibmom
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Re: Vacuum seal a telescope?

Post by Mibmom »

Wow. Thank you for all the responses.

@ Clifford60, Yeah I got one of the Daiso Vacuum bags with a valve.
I will put the scope and all the contents in the Celestron bag and vacuum seal the whole thing.
I want to keep this scope in the car.
Thank you for the suggestion of having a dehumidifier and hygrometer in the vacuum bag.
I did a set up for my other scopes in a plastic boxes with a hygrometer, hippo and I lined the lid to make it more air tight.
Seems to keep it at about 40%.

@Hardwarezone, Thank you for the suggestion and the point about the Hippo being not environmental.
So far as long as I do not open the lid often, the hippo will not be fully used for a while to come.
I wanted to keep the cost down and use what I had around the house and not have something that constantly runs electricity.
I might try your suggestion in the future. Thank you.

@cloud_clover, Thank you for explaining your experience using it and what you used.
seems to be what I am going for.

I will set it up and will check in on it in a few days.

Thank you again everyone. Very much appreciated.
Take me out to the black
Tell them I ain't comin' back
Burn the land and boil the sea
You can't take the sky from me
~ Serenity
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