Dew Shield for Nexstar 11

I've read a number of posts on dew shields and it seems that a lot of
people make their own. I've also seen the $175 variety advertised from
AstroZap and the $79 variety from telscope.com. Not being very handy
at making things, is there really a huge difference in the AstroZap
and telescope.com products?

ChuckS

Hi Chuck. I have the Kendrick dew cap for my CG-11. It was a bit flimsy
until I cut 4" off of it, because on a CG-11 there isn't a lot to attach it
to because of the dovetail. Its a nice dewcap because it is flocked inside
and it lays flat for storage.

Joe

Chuck:

I made a dew shield out of roofing Flashing material. A roll at Home
Despot costs $10 and contains enough material for about 25 shields. It
ends up that with my heavy (nagler) eyepieces, that this shield also is
a perfect counterweight for the C11. I started by cutting about 1/2"
longer than the circumfrence around the OTA. Then I duct taped the
thing together, removed from scope, Tack soldered it together, and
worked on the fit so that the normal scope cover also fits on the other
end of the shield. Once satisfied with the fit, finish by soldering it
up (both sides), glossy black paint on the outside, flat balck paint on
the insides.

Takes less time than waiting for the mail/UPS/Fed-Ex.

Mitch

Thanks! That's good to know.

On Mon, 7 Feb 2005 00:49:15 -0500, "J McBride"
wrote:

Hi Chuck. I have the Kendrick dew cap for my CG-11. It was a bit flimsy
until I cut 4" off of it, because on a CG-11 there isn't a lot to attach it
to because of the dovetail. Its a nice dewcap because it is flocked inside
and it lays flat for storage.

Joe

"Chuck" wrote in message
...
I've read a number of posts on dew shields and it seems that a lot of
people make their own. I've also seen the $175 variety advertised from
AstroZap and the $79 variety from telscope.com. Not being very handy
at making things, is there really a huge difference in the AstroZap
and telescope.com products?

ChuckS

I've got a C9.25" that I made my own dewshield for that has proven quite
satisfactory. I made it out of the insulating foil covered bubble wrap
stuff you can buy in a roll at pretty much any home improvement store (I got
mine at Lowes, I believe, originally to use for other purposes). I'm not
sure right offhand just what that stuff is called. I cut the right length
for to go around the scope, cut out a small portion for the dovetail of the
mount, then attached some industrial strength, sticky backed velcro to the
appropriate areas so it would fit snugly around the scope. Then I got some
thin, flat black, foam rubber sheets (I got both the velcro and the foam
rubber at a Hobby Lobby), cut them into strips and glued them on the inside
of the dewshield with some spray adhesive with maybe an eighth of an inch
between them, for strain relief when it's rolled up. For good measure, I
also put some duct tape around the edge to keep the strips in place should
the adhesive prove less than perfect. Though it's not the prettiest, I've
used this for 4 or 5 months with very good results... better, I think, than
the Kendrick dew shield I had earlier (that mistakenly got thrown out in the
trash), probably due to what I'm sure are the superior insulating properties
of the bubble wrap stuff as compared to the plastic of the Kendrick. It
really wasn't that hard to make and cost substantially less than the
Kendrick and other dew shields. All in all, I wish I'd done this first,
before I ever bought the Kendrick dew shield, as it's cheaper and works as
well or better... it's just not as pretty. Hope this helps

T