Where to buy foam for telescope case?

kohjb · Post by **kohjb** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 1:54 pm

Regarding the foam from Art Friends, how do you know if the foam "out-gasses" ? And how harmful is outgassing anyway ? Anyone has more foam they bought from E-Chan to "share" ?

:newbie:

carlogambino · Post by **carlogambino** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 9:50 pm

Hi, according to some book, leaving the foam to air dry for a few days will allow any gasses from the foam to escape. Also, it says that if the foam does not out-gas, it will not have any odour. The book also mentions that it is the author's view that "out-gassing" will not affect the optics.

Personally, however, I have no idea how to know if the foam "out-gasses". I'm also not sure how it would affect the optics. Maybe react with the coatings? In my present chem knowledge, I'm not sure how any gas produced by foam could react with coa like MgF2 though.

Another tip for cutting foam(by the book). To cut foam by using a knife, place the foam in water, then squeeze and make it totally dry. Place it in the freezer overnight. The next day, the foam will be hard and brittle and will be very easy to cut.

kohjb · Post by **kohjb** » Wed Jan 05, 2005 10:42 pm

The "some book" that you're referring to is a good beginner book that I'm reading by the way. It's called "Choosing and Using a Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope : A Guide to Commercial SCTs and Maksutovs (Practical Astronomy.)" by Rod Mollise. It doesn't give me enough confidence to just go buy any foam though. I need a case for my C9.25 so am figuring out what I need to do !

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/de ... 6?v=glance

carlogambino · Post by **carlogambino** » Thu Jan 06, 2005 8:10 pm

Yes thats the book I was referring to. However, cases from US are really expensive cos the shipping will kill.