Homemade Bahtinov Masks

[Mark Roberts]

Thought I would share this.

You can generate a Bahtinov mask of your choice and have it printed onto a transparency.
Attach it to a ring the size of your scope and you are ready to go. No cutting, no fussing. Just focus right through it. Works great. Made one for my 72mm at a cost of about 4 dollars.

Very easy and you can save a ton of cash!

[Mark Roberts]

Hi Glen, glad you got it to work for you and cheaper than I did.
I believe I used this site to generate my mask.
http://astrojargon.net/MaskGen.aspx

[Glen O Chambers]

Hi All
I did it. It cost $1.17.
I edited the mask image to remove words and index points.
I then used the Paint program to fill the mask body black.
Took it to Letter Box to copy on mylar. Cost $1.17 ! Looks good.
It rains here in Woodland, so I'm anxious to be able to test it. :)
Glen C

[Glen O Chambers]

Thank you Mark for the reply. No problem printing them.
The patterns I had downloaded from Bahtinov were just pattern lines. I think I can use a photo editor, paint the
background areas black and then print them.
We'll give this a try :)
Glen

[Mark Roberts]

Hi Glen, You can get transparencies that are printable. If you are making one for bigger than 8" you will have to get a printing place to do it for you unless you have a printer that will do larger than 8.5x11. Just print the mask onto the transparancy, the black is the mask. The white areas will be clear and once mounted you will be able to just focus right thru it. :)

Mark

[Glen O Chambers]

Hi Mark
I like that idea. I've downloaded the patterns. How did you make the in between areas dark and opaque?
:) Glen

[Trevor Woodrow]

Sweet....never thought of that...would have saved me a lot of cutting, lol!