Tips for Drying a Wet Tribrach?

Just waiting works, as long as it waits in a dry environment. Packing it in rice (uncooked!) would speed up the process.

Towel it off as best you can and let it sit over the weekend in a warm room. If that doesn't work, try putting it in a sealed container with a few cups of dry, uncooked, rice for a few days. The rice will act as a desiccant. I've seen them take up to a couple of weeks for the fog to completely clear.

Ken-

Both previous replies are what I might try.

What brand of tribrach ?

Cheers

Derek

If you can't wait, take it apart a clean it, been there done that...

I have had good quality tribrach defog over night by just letting them air dry inside.

On the other hand I have had a cheap tribrach get fogged forever (it left a residue inside). I could try to dismantle it and clean it but 1) the value of my time doesn't justify the replacement cost and 2) I probably couldn't get it back together anyway because I would break one of the cheap metal screws which seem to twist off with the least pressure on them so I would have to purchase a new one on top of my wasted time.

Compressed air

Just make sure you don't leave it in a case. It'll dry itself. Sure there is ways to do it faster but it doesn't matter. It'll dry.

More details:

It is an CST tribrach, about 14 years old. I dried off the outside as soon as I could, and it has been sitting, not in a case, for a few days. The fog seems to be getting lighter.

I have never had this happen before, so was seeking a bit of guidance from those that did. Waiting works for me.

Thanks for the replies.

KS

Must not rain very often in your neck of the woods, just part of the day on the Gulf Coast. A great and cheap deterrent is a plastic bag placed over the tribrach, but leaving the prism uncovered. I'll do it on dusty sites as well, to mitigate dirt getting into the screws.

While I don't necessarily recommend it - a friend had a T2 get completely soaked and fog up. He put it in the oven on as low a temperature as it would go. After a few hours it was as good as new.

Andy

>...a friend had a T2 get completely soaked and fog up. He put it in the oven on as low a temperature as it would go. After a few hours it was as good as new.

Heck, if you're gonna go that route, you might a well use this:

Mmmmmm...hickory scented theodolite.

> ... He put it in the oven on as low a temperature as it would go...
A less dramatic approach would be to set it on a sunny windowsill.

> >...a friend had a T2 get completely soaked and fog up. He put it in the oven on as low a temperature as it would go. After a few hours it was as good as new.
>
> Heck, if you're gonna go that route, you might a well use this:
>
>
>
> Mmmmmm...hickory scented theodolite.

+o( :woot: