Carastro Posted October 8, 2020 Share Posted October 8, 2020 I generally use sky flats if I can, but there are times when I need a light box, and so I saw a cheap tracing board on Ebay a couple of years ago. Wasn't sure if it would work when I switched it on as the board is lit in dots. But so long as there is a sheet of typing paper in front it works well. I kept the box it was delivered in and cut a hole out for the scope aperture, so it sits nicely on top of the scope, and the box around the end of the scope helps to stop it sliding off.Here it is on top of my Esprit today. So taking it apart, this is the tracing board out of it's box.It has a cable which powers from plugging into a USB socket, and a nice controller which if you press it will make the light brighter or dimmer, so no messing around adding or subtracting sheets of paper.I have several scopes with different apertures, so in order to accommodate the different apertures and not leave a gap causing light leak (important for star camps), I made a different sized stiff cardboard for each scope, and fixed the largest one on only on 3 sides so i can slide the smaller aperture sheets of card in and out as required.The whole lot cost me approx £12 for the tracing board and a bit of time, sticky tape and spare cardboard.Not glamorous, but does the job. Carole 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gina Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Great Carole ? I likr Blue Peter technology ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryMcK Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Great solution. Difficulty for me is finding typing paper in these days of the paperless office ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstronomyUkraine Posted October 13, 2020 Share Posted October 13, 2020 Posted by: @Carastro I kept the box it was delivered in and cut a hole out for the scope aperture, so it sits nicely on top of the scope, and the box around the end of the scope helps to stop it sliding off.I am smiling at your flat box. ? Mine is almost it's twin brother/sister. I happened to have a piece of foam that fit my box perfectly, so the hole for the scope goes through the bottom of the box and the foam. It takes great flats, and has no light leaks at all. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carastro Posted October 13, 2020 Author Share Posted October 13, 2020 Posted by: @TerryMcK Difficulty for me is finding typing paper in these days of the paperless officeI have typing paper for my home computer and printer.Carole Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carastro Posted October 13, 2020 Author Share Posted October 13, 2020 Posted by: @AstronomyUkraine Mine is almost it's twin brother/sister. I happened to have a piece of foam that fit my box perfectly, so the hole for the scope goes through the bottom of the box and the foam. It takes great flats, and has no light leaks at all.I have the same foam bag and keep my flats box in it. Must have come with the panels in the first place, how funny.Carole 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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