shiny filter threads on Meade 30mm UWA

Hi, my newly acquired but apparently heavily used Meade 30mm UWA has shiny filter threads. Any blackening that may have been there is gone. I would think this would be an issue. Should I paint them flat black or flock them? Any recommendations? Thanks.

Use flat black and paint it with a small artist brush, not too thick or filters will be difficult to screw on the thread. The other thing would be a felt tip black marker. Not as flat, but it is black.

I'm not familiar with the design, but I'm not sure that it's a problem. It's common to leave the lower quarter of an inch of threads unblackened for easy use of filters. Maybe you could post a photo?

If there are no optics in the barrel, I would turn the eyepiece upside down (just to be on the safe side) and remove the barrel, tape the outside, apply a flat black spray paint (blackboard paint looks pretty good and is harder, although a bit more gray than ultra flat black) from both ends, bake it dry, and return the barrel to the eyepiece after it cooled.

On the other hand, if there are optics in the barrel, it won't help to remove it, and you can't use spray paint (or at least I wouldn't).
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Mike

If it really bugs you, just get a fat (not flat) black sharpie and paint it. If you paint with paint, it'll just gunk up the threads. A sharpie works great in the visible spectrum for reflectivity. If you want to paint it, use a flat black epoxy. PTI company is what I use. http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/cs/paint.html

May be more than you want to spend though. Best flat black epoxy out there. Krylon ultra flat black ain't and will outgas for longer than you'll own your ep. Looks really black though, but not.

I just edited this post because the link doesn't mention the flat black that I could see. You may have to call the company for that offering.

John Nilsen said:

Hi, my newly acquired but apparently heavily used Meade 30mm UWA has shiny filter threads. Any blackening that may have been there is gone. I would think this would be an issue. Should I paint them flat black or flock them? Any recommendations? Thanks.

***be careful (slow, smooth strokes) even if using a small brush, as tiny paint 'spray' drops can easily flick off the brush onto the glass (I would definitely remove the barrel first). As far as using a Sharpie marker, these pens use a varnish-like substance in the ink as a binder and the result will be quite shiny. It reflects a lot of light but it's better than chrome. If you use a very thin layer of flat black paint a filter will still thread in but will eventually scrape off the paint, but you probably would have to thread a filter in and out a hundred times to notice it.