Grinding Machine for Large Telescope Mirrors I designed and built a grinding machine for mirrors up to 42 inches [1.1m] in diameter. By slipping on and off a couple of belts, the machine can quickly be reconfigured for spinning work or for stroking work.
My Mirror Grinding Machine. For a long time I've wanted to build a machine for grinding telescope mirrors. Dennis Rech's M-o-M designs finally inspired me to just get up and do it. Over the years, I'd been collecting motors, gear boxes, pulleys, etc. Most of them came from industrial junk yards.
A telescope mirror is arguably the most accurate surface made by human or machine. Amazingly you can grind a mirror by hand and make a telescope with simple hand tools. With such a telescope, Saturn with its rings are stunning. The purpose of a telescope is to enable our vision quest.
Sep 29, 2014· Mechanical assembly is complete. The machine could start grinding now. I still need to build the electronics, and then there's painting and finishing.
The scope was designed and built to be rugged and easily transportable. It collapses into a cube that can be moved easily by one person once its wheels are strapped on. One person can setup or breakdown the scope in about 10 minutes. The scope even
Sep 23, 2012· After hogging the mirror blank to depth, the rough grinding stage begins. In this video I am grinding with 60/90 grit. The wets are lasting about 90 seconds
The M-o-M is a marvellous machine due to its simplicity and yet refined design. It is extremely flexible accommodating mirror sizes from 4 inch up to 20 inch (with slight modifications) and can be used for all three steps necessary in producing a mirror. That is
The walls are 23 feet (7.0 m) apart, 40 feet (12 m) high, and 71 feet (21.6 m) long. A chain and counterweight keeps the telescope in balance, another chain with a winch controls the altitude. A rack and pinion beam underneath the tube controls the azimuth.
Throughout the grinding and final lapping stages, the objective has been to reduce pits and scratches to the smallest possible size. However, no amount of grinding can produce a surface smooth enough or sufficiently transparent to meet the needs of a first-class telescope objective. Different techniques are needed.
Mar 07, 2010· This video shows how to setup a mirror grinding machine for fixed-post grinding, also known as spin grinding or spinning. After setup, you'll see how abrasiv...
Hundreds of links to all aspects of telescope making on the internet. ATM Material Suppliers US suppliers of Mirror Blanks, Grinding & Polishing Supplies, and Telescope Making Supplies. Astronomy Clubs Many can offer help with your project. Astronomy Conventions & Star Parties
Dec 06, 2009· The movie shows the Zeiss machine in all its phases, putting together notes, drawings and films that make up the story: from initial idea to the project, man...
Grinding Machine for Large Telescope Mirrors. 2017-8-9 · Grinding Machine for Large Telescope Mirrors I designed and built a grinding machine for mirrors up to 42 inches [1.1m] in diameter. By slipping on and off a couple of belts, the machine can quickly
Currently manufacturing a 16″ diameter 1″ thick plate glass f3.88 Newtonian telescope mirror. Doing this with my new fixed post grinding machine built this summer. Work is progressing well, and very efficient. Started project in August 2013 and at this point I am ready to move on from 25 micron White Aluminum Oxide to 9 micon White Aluminum
Design and construction. Parsons improved the techniques of casting, grinding and polishing large telescope mirrors from speculum metal, and constructed steam-powered grinding machines for parabolic mirrors.His 3 feet (91 cm) mirror of 1839 was cast in smaller pieces, fitted together before grinding and polishing; its 1840 successor was cast in a single piece.
This web page provides an overview of my large homemade telescope making project. I read several telescope and mirror making books and visited many amateur telescope making or "ATM" websites to learn how to build a 14.5 inch homemade telescope of this size. Grinding the Mirror. I then proceeded to grind the mirror starting with 120 grit and
Fixed-post machine grinding is where the mirror is on a turntable rotating around 20 PRM [speeds vary], and a 75% tool is on top. They are already curve-generated. The tool is hanging over the mirror by 1/6 the diameter of the tool, or about 1/8 diameter of the mirror, and is fixed in this position.
I will assume that you have made mirrors before, and thus won't describe the basic processes of grinding and polishing glass, or testing an optical figure by means of a knife edge or Ronchi tester. Many books exist which detail these processes [my personal favorite is Jean Texereau's "How to Make a Telescope" (Willmann-Bell, 1984) ].
Mar 06, 2006· Making a homemade mirror grinding machine posted in ATM, Optics and DIY Forum: I want to make a motorized mirror grinder,any good info on this,i have a couple geared motors,low speed high torque. One more questionwill 1 1/2 shaft size pillow block bearings work good for a homemade EQ mount? Thank you,John
You may notice that many commercial telescope advertisements proclaim they use "Hand Figured Optics" in fact this is one of the best and least expensive ways to get an accurate surface on a mirror most machines just can't hold the tolerances necessary, and any good telescope optic, including the mirror you could make in your kitchen, should
Oct 15, 2012· Page 1 of 2 Making my own fixed post mirror grinding/polishing machine posted in ATM, Optics and DIY Forum: Hey guys. Im thinking of making my own fixed post mirror grinding/polishing and curve generating machine. 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?