Flocked Paper

[Tom Droege <tdroege2@earthlink.net>]

I just put flocked paper in the lenses for TOM1.  I hope it does not make a 
difference, because if it does, then I will want to do TOM2 and TOM3.

Getting the lenses apart was difficult.  Getting them back together was a 
disaster.  I broke 4 lenses from getting them jammed in place.  The 
tolerances are just too tight.  We knew that,     since some lenses have 
broken from differential expansion.  I ended up having to grind the edge of 
one lens with a Dremmel tool to get it small enough to get it back together.

However, I may have learned what I did wrong.  Once a lens jams in place, 
then it is almost surely destroyed.  It then cuts into the metal of the 
lens tube, and makes the next lens more likely to jam.  I did not realize 
this at first, so broke several lenses trying to slip them into place.

I suspect the aluminum tubes have "aged" and become out of round.  So what 
was once a barely possible fit is now impossible.  OK, I did the usual 
tricks of putting the barrels in the oven to try to expand them just enough 
to get the lens to slide in.  Eventually after a lot of work with emery 
paper and the Dremmel tool on the lens edges, this enabled me to get the 
lenses back together.  Sigh!  One more disaster for the lens adventure.

On the other hand, I can see a *huge* difference just looking through the 
lenses.  I am taking flats now, and will run the matrix routine (Like 
DS-24) tonight and hope to get some data to test after the moon goes 
by.  We shall see.

Tom Droege