Solar Finder Scope Finished

This is one of those projects that I started many months ago but was put on the back burner while waiting for better weather.  Back in March, I designed and built a solar finder scope but I had not painted it.  I needed to wait until I could use some spray paint outdoors which means I needed warm weather and dry weather.  In between other little projects, I managed to get this solar finder scope completed.  

Although the sun is very bright in our sky, it actually is difficult to get a telescope lined up with it for viewing through a telescope!  The sun is so bright that you can't look directly at it so you then just guess where to point the telescope.  You move the telescope up...  then right...  then left...  then down...  then up again...  hoping to get it in your view.  Alternately, you can try to minimize the telescope's shadow on the ground but that can also be a little frustrating.  Instead of playing this little game of cat and mouse, I designed a solar finder scope to be used to find the sun in my telescopes.  

I used the same paint scheme as one of my telescopes...  a gloss black paint with shimmering flakes in it for the tube and gloss white for the dew shield.  All interior surfaces are painted in a flat black to minimize reflections.  I also painted the finder scope bracket in gloss white.  Now it is nice looking and functional!

When the telescope is aligned perfectly with the sun, a bright white dot appears in the bullseye of the finder scope.  Note the three nice brass alignment thumbscrews around the rear end of the finder scope bracket.  I thought they were a nice touch...

I even made a dust cap for the front end of the finder scope...

Here is a shot of one of my solar telescope kits on my new permanent telescope pier...

And lastly, here is a photo of the original tests back in March...  this was before any of the parts were painted but proved that my design worked just fine.

This finder scope is made of PVC pipe and a coupler or two.  The pipe is supported by a leftover stalk meant for a 50mm finder/guide scope.  

If I remember correctly, I used 1-1/2" pipe.  I sanded all the parts smooth, primed them and added a few top coats masking surfaces that were previously painted with different paint.  The front element is a circular disk cut from sheet aluminum and then I drilled a tiny hole in the center of it, painted it flat black and placed it into the front element.  The rear bullseye was laser printed on transparency film and cut into a circle to fit inside the tube.  A piece of semi-transparent yellow plastic was pulled from our recycling bin which was also cut into a circle to fit inside the tube.  The parts were glued together using CA glue.

This is a nice useful addition to my astronomy gear!