Safe Solar Viewer

Description

This is a 3D printed version of the Safe Solar Viewer described by T.R.Richardson of the College of Charleston Department of Physics and Astronomy (http://richardsont.people.cofc.edu/safe_solar_folder/index.html). It is a safe way to present an image of the sun without risk to anyone's eyes, and is an excellent way to show the sun's image to children. Never look directly at the sun with binoculars or a telescope as the result will be instant blindness. It has been designed with the objective lens I had in my drawer - a 400mm focal length lens with a 49mm thread that was intended to be used for macro photography when screwed to the front of a camera lens. The Barlow lens came from SurplusShed (https://www.surplusshed.com/) as described in the web page: mine was a 28mm diameter lens with a focal length of -20 (ref: L1829). USA buyers will find that buying this lens is easy, but as a UK resident negotiating the post & packing maze was eventful! However, this was the only supplier I could find for this item, and they went out of their way to help me pay the right amount. Important note: anyone trying to make this viewer may have different lenses, so it will be necessary to edit the OpenSCAD code - I have tried to make the code as clear as possible. There is also a file called "testPieces.scad" that only prints the size-critical parts - these use very little filament and allows the builder to get dimensions correct before printing the final pieces. Finally, I show the viewer…