Most of them came from industrial junk yards. The leader in precision optical mirror coatings for telescopes and astronomy. mirror grinding kit grind and polish telescope mirror at home mirror blank grinding tool grinding powders ceruim oxide optical polish View Basket (0) £0.00 ex VAT View Quote (0) Register Login Glass tool ground against the mirror face. If you'd like to buy a complete mirror grinding KIT, with all abrasives and grinding tool included, please see the Buy Telescope Mirror Kits. For hogging out, we start with the "chordal stroke" Put the tool on the bottom, add half a teaspoon of #80 grit, sprinkle with water and place the mirror center near the edge of the tool. Follows the mirror through loading onto flatbed truck and transportation from Caltech to Palomar mountain. I designed and built a grinding machine for mirrors up to 42 inches [1.1m] in diameter. mirror to improve it's The theory behind grinding is that you can remove glass as long as you use a material with a higher hardness. Telescope Mirror Kits .COM; United Lens Company; Salem Distributing Company; There is also info at the Mirror Workshop (Astron Soc of Greater Hartford CT). Many amateur astronomers still choose to fabricate their own instruments, for the pride of accomplishment, the gaining of knowled… Take time and watch our informative, instructional videos. excellence. Part 2 - Polishing A mirror mount is needed to hold the mirror during testing. Telescope Service is one of the leading astronomy Dealers in Europe. Building a Telescope The program includes mirror testing methods, basic optics and wave theory of optics. When grinding thin mirror blanks, be conscious of downward pressure, which if excessive, may bend the mirror blank momentarily out of shape. Mirror-making is a hobby that has been Here you will find the most modern cameras and accessories for astrophotography at top prices through direct import. While it’s true that the aluminized surface of a telescope mirror will deteriorate over time, there is no hard and fast rule about how long this will take. Four stages of preparation are required before beginning to shape the mirror into a paraboloid. And especially if you strive for is time consuming, requiring a great deal of skill, patience and perseverence. Page 1 of 2 - Making my own fixed post mirror grinding/polishing machine - posted in ATM, Optics and DIY Forum: Hey guys. Teleskop-Service is the partner of ZWO in Europe. Good optics are the heart of a fine telescope. To be effective, the abrasive needs to be rubbed against the glass with a lot of pressure. This is how you make a telescope mirror out of a hunk of glass: Use a sand mixture and another piece of glass to grind away the middle of a concave shape. State of the art Ion Assisted Deposition - IAD - enhances the quality of the deposited material in the ways listed in the below link. around for many years, and many people have put their hands to the task, but it 714-484-7500 * FAX 714-484-7600 * E-MAIL newportglass.sales@gmail.com Grinding, Polishing and Figuring Thin Telescope Mirrors . The weight of the glass can deform a thin mirror. telescope. All jobs are treated equally, from the tiniest set, to the 24", $60,000 Zerdur set. For many years, amateur astronomers and telescope makers thought it essential that glass for telescope primary mirrors be at least one-sixth as thick as its diameter. website for the lowest prices on plate glass telescope mirror grinding kits. Grinding and polishing the mirror is the most difficult part of making a telescope. Our Telescope Mirror Coating process utilizes the latest methods in Optical Coating technology, perfectly suited for the often harsh environment of the Telescope Mirror industry. Ideally, a certain percentage of the light in the image will fall within the diffraction disk diameter. Especially when the mirror gets big. Spectrum Coatings utilizes their technology to accommodate a wide variety of uses for the unique properties of optical coatings, specializing in front surface mirror coatings for telescopes and astronomy. performance. Optical, Inc. For a long time I've wanted to build a machine for grinding telescope mirrors. Steve Swayze has become a master at this delicate Click to see the whole project. We offer Telescope Blanks made from SCHOTT Suprax … Grinding the curve into the mirror face can be done by one of the following approaches: Ceramic tiled tool ground against the mirror face. This means that stroke is 1/3 length in total , 1/6 forward, 1/6th backwards. Ring tool. Please take the time to fill out this form with any questions you may have to receive a timely reply. Much is also unchanged - mirror grinding techniques are very similar to those written up by Porter and Ingalls in the 20´s and 30´s. This is my home-built edge grinding machine for grinding down my home-cast mirror blanks. 3D Designand Modeling plus CNC Machining. Telescope mirrors have the smoothest surfaces ever made. Anyone building machinery for cold-working glass should have a look at the MOM web site and plans. It is cheap and comes in various size (can range from #36 to #500). Producing Front Surface Mirror coatings, Anti-Reflection, Beam splitter, hot & cold mirrors, dichroic filters that meet and exceed the standards of the optical thin film industry. And the most critical. By slipping on and off a couple of belts, the machine can quickly be reconfigured for spinning work or for stroking work. the thickness is much less than 1/8th its diameter) then the mount must hold the mirror without deforming it. Send Off for Coating (optional, Informational Reading Past This Point) This part and all that follows … Jim's Mobile, Inc. (JMI Telescopes) is a world renowned manufacturer of astronomical telescopes and aftermarket accessories for the amateur and professional astronomer. We can refigure your Some coatings last only a few years, while others will outlast you. Here’s some videos of mirror-grinding and mirror-polishing to give you some idea of what you’ll be doing. Recorded at the Stellafane Mirror Workshop - No Audio - Using very fine grit (Aluminum Oxide) but the same stroke, albiet with more effort and therefgore a slower pace, is used for rough grinding and polishing. Optical Thin Film Coatings - designed using FilmStar & Mcleod Concise thin film design software. what you see, and know what to do from there to correct the optical surface to Alternative Titles: Palomar Construction, Palomar Archives 2 and Palomar Archives 3 Description: Part 1 includes footage of all aspects of the construction of the Palomar 200-inch Hale Telescope. ALUMINUM COATING 807 Rutherdale Ave San Carlos, Ca. Motorized grinding wheel on the end of along boom that is anchored that is moved back and forth across the mirror face. We are here to serve the needs of By thinning the blank, he's lightened the mirror by about 20 pounds! (3) A homemade telescope mirror can be made with more accuracy and smoothness than the mass-produced, commercial mirrors available today. Welcome to my channel - in this video, we will begin to make a telescope mirror from scratch! Repeat with finer and finer grit sand. 8610 CENTRAL AVE, STANTON, CA 90680 TEL. Mirror-making is a hobby that has been around for many years, and many people have put their hands to the task, but it is time consuming, requiring a great deal of skill, patience and perseverence. amateur astronomers and telescope builders who are looking for high quality One of the hardest things is to know how to test optics, interpret A lot has changed since Russell Porter wrote those words - today the "average workman" can afford to buy an already made telescope and Dobsonian mountings are very popular. Abridged from an article appearing in Telescope Making #12 Provided: Courtesy of Astronomy Magazine Article's Author: Bob Kestner . We manufacture telescopes and accessories such as telescope wheels, carrying cases, guiding computers, focusers, motors and motor controls and much more. Special Notice-We want to let our customers know that during this timeframe we continue to do business as usual. Im thinking of making my own fixed post mirror grinding/polishing and curve generating machine. Use 1/3 mirror diameter strokes. Preparing the Mirror Surface. Our State of the Art, Ion Assisted Deposition process allows us to produce hard, durable oxide optical thin films without high-temperature substrate heating. Spectrum Coatings utilizes their technology to accommodate a wide variety of uses for the unique properties of optical coatings, specializing in front surface mirror coatings for telescopes and astronomy. Coating Status Coating tank hoist is down. A telescope mirror is designed to form a diffraction limited image of a point source. We can supply the optics you need for your telescope. The standard for optical thin film design for many decades. craft. Part I - Grinding . Home| Capabilities & Services | Materials | Applications | Customer Service Hotline. Gordon started with a 2" thick telescope mirror that weighed about 70 pounds. If the mirror is a 'thin' mirror (i.e. State of the art Ion Assisted Deposition - IAD - enhances the quality of the deposited material in the ways listed in the below link. Dave Barosso demonstrates the technique, but to do it yourself, try to visit one of the Telescope Makers Workshop ‘s classes on Friday nights in Oakland. It worked great. REDONDO BEACH, Calif., April 1, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- With today's dedication by Tinsley Laboratories Inc., of a new facility to grind and polish mirror segments for the James Webb Space Telescope to exacting degrees of accuracy, NASA's newest space observatory moved another step ahead. 7635 SE Deardorff Rd. Our Telescope Mirror Coating process utilizes the latest methods in Optical Coating technology, perfectly suited for the often harsh environment of the Telescope Mirror industry. I borrowed a few ideas from the Mirror-O-Matic mirror grinding machine, particularly how to mount the turntable on top of the pulley. Telescope makers use silicon carbide powders (a.k.a. Telescope Products & Services. We also offer a recoating service for Sextant mirrors. Please see the Buy Telescope Mirror Blanks page for low prices on plate glass mirror blanks. We offer a range of products and services for the ameteur telescope enthusiast such as grinding powders, polishing powders /compounds, telescope aluminising services. SUPREMAX 33 is a borosilicate Pyrex equivalent, and is an excellent alternative for telescope mirror blanks. 94070 3733 alcoat@comcast.net. the desired parabolic curve. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////. email remains the same: steve@swayzeoptical.com. Our thanks to ATM volunteers Keith Venables, Tim Cowden, and Robert Kieras! carborundum) for this task. For grinding the back of my 12" mirror, I used an 8" disk of 3/4" particle board, glued tiles to the front with epoxy, and coated the back and sides with polyurethane. Over the years, I'd been collecting motors, gear boxes, pulleys, etc. Portland, OR 97236, Steve Swayze - and his 40-inch f/5 mirror. Grinding and polishing the mirror is the most difficult part of making a This is a 12.5 inch diameter, 1.5 inch thick, light-weight honeycomb-back telescope mirror blank that I made myself. My Mirror Grinding Machine. The program is supplied on on this website. Part 2 includes footage of the 200" mirror, its grinding and cleaning. Swayze We offer a Telescope mirror re coating service for both Primary and Secondary telescope mirrors. Ive got loads of questions regarding the design so Ill just start firing away Do I need an eccentric moving tool to be able to polish a mirror spherical? I made my polishing tool for my 12" mirror out of three layers of 3/4" particle board glued together. And the most critical. Grinding Machine for Large Telescope Mirrors. Unfortunately, the cost of mirror grinding kits and pyrex blanks has increased significantly in recent years to the point where any savings from making a mirror versus buying one are minimal at best. Dennis Rech's M-o-M designs finally inspired me to just get up and do it. A Grinding Rig WALKING around a barrel is undoubtedly a tedious procedure, but on the other hand it is the simplest method of grinding and polishing a telescope mirror. Zambuto Optical Company is a full service custom manufacturer of premium Newtonian primary telescope mirrors from 7" through 24" diameter. These ultra-hard coatings are perfectly suited for the harsh environment that is indicative of telescope mirrors. We offer many types of coatings including protected aluminum and enhanced aluminum. Expect to return to service February 11, 2021. Our State of the Art. This is an 8" mirror, so the stroke overhang is about 1.3" on each side for a 2.6" stroke length. Thin Telescope Mirrors . Between 1957 and 1963, SRO members produced a film that documented the progress of the construction of the telescope and observatory - from the delivery of the mirror blank for grinding and polishing in Altadena, CA, to the opening of the dome and celebration of first-light in 1963. The purpose of the preparation is to make the surface of the mirror progressively smoother. Newtonian mirrors at reasonable prices. Indeed, the coating on my very first reflector telescope looks absolutely perfect in spite of being more than 30 years old. Our blanks have the following standard characteristics: Precision annealed material (6 Mu or … While this is not a problem during rough grinding (as the amount of flex is exceedingly small) the effect becomes important as you reach the later stages of making your telescope mirror.

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