made solar filter

Made the custom solar filter for the Oberwerk binoculars. Kiron helped.

First gathered all the necessary tools and supplies. Serendipitously, in the work room, I found a small brass sheet. Small strips would work much better than the hair pin idea I first envisioned.

Taped the film to the front piece.

1. Cut the black foam core in half. For the front (outer) and back (inner) pieces of the sandwich.
2. Prepared the outer sheet. Marked centre, on the white side. Measure the height and width dimensions of the bins body. Marked the top line. Traced the outer shape. Draw an oval inside the tracing, 1/2" within. Cut out this inner shape.
3. Traced shape onto other foam core sheet, the inner.
4. Spray painted the outer sheet (from the white side) with some flat black paint in an effort to hide the white foam. Set aside to dry.
5. Cut out the oval shape from the inner sheet.
6. Cut 3/4" strips from the brass, initially 4, then 5 pieces. Bent the strips to form locking tabs.
7. Cut slots for the strips in the inner foam core. Inserted brass strips. Test fit on the binos housing. Had to fine-tune the position of the bottom one. Taped down the strip tabs.
8. Prepared the baader solar film. Checked for perforations. Cut solar film for opening. Taped solar film to outer foam core.
9. Glued foam core pieces together, white sides, sandwiching the film and tabs, and weighed them down. Done!

Looking forward to trying them later...

It occurred to me we'll need a big container to safely store these.