Fake carbon fibre wrap as telescope tube spiffer-upper

Wanna make a scope? Or better still, grind a mirror yourself. Or, you have some good tips in making a really useful accessory? This is the place to show what your hands can do...
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orly_andico
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Fake carbon fibre wrap as telescope tube spiffer-upper

Post by orly_andico »

If you have a telescope tube that's gotten nicked, dinged, bad paint job, etc. etc. there are several ways to refurbish it. I have tried manually stripping and repainting telescope tubes, and I also had one tube powder-coated.

But this one has got to be the easiest yet, and it doesn't look too bad. I purchased a 1 metre length X 1.7 metre width fake carbon fibre wrap (generally used on car bonnets) for $25 from a car detailing shop in Yishun.

It took about 30 minutes to cut out the right size and stick it on to the telescope tube (the wrap is self-adhesive). It doesn't look bad at all!

I then poked holes in the wrap for the screws using a hot soldering iron (although I had to manually cut out the focuser hole with a box cutter).

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Great Red Spot
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Re: Fake carbon fibre wrap as telescope tube spiffer-upper

Post by Great Red Spot »

Nice! Orly, can you show us the part where both ends of the wrap meets? I believe that will be the tricky part.
Hardwarezone
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Joined: Fri May 17, 2013 2:50 am
Favourite scope: maksutov

Re: Fake carbon fibre wrap as telescope tube spiffer-upper

Post by Hardwarezone »

^overlap the ends slightly and arrange it at the direction less seen.

For cars they use hairdryer to maneuver the vinyl around tricky curves.
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