Pushing Glass - 2 Amateurs make mirrors
Larry and I began making our 8 inch f/6 mirrors on June 18, 2000. On the first night we
ground for about 1.5 hours. We could begin to see a spherical shape, but were far short of
the depth needed for f/6. Our resources include the John Dobson video, "Build Your Own
Telescope" by Richard Berry, and "Amateur Telescope Making, volume 1" by Ingalls. Our
optics lab is in Larry's basement.
80 grit on the tool at the beginning of rough grinding.
Larry pushing hard
Looking like I am working hard
After 3 hours of grinding we nearly have a curve the depth of a used dime.
As of June 28, 2000: Larry measured the focal length using the Sun's light and found both mirrors to be about 83". Our goal is 48" focal length. We should be able to achieve this with one more session of 80 grit grinding. Keep checking back for more updates. To monitor the progress of another amateur making his own mirror, go to Ed Ting's site at |
