Enjoy your Saturday mornings in January and February
with other enthusiasts making your own telescope mirror. The
workshop is held at the home of Dick Parker in Tolland, CT starting in the beginning of January.
Under the
workshop concept you choose your own telescope mirror project and work on it at your
own pace. This is not a class with a structured agenda and timetable. There is no cost
for the workshop, however, you need to procure the necessary equipment and
supplies on your own. The workshop provides workstations,
a knife edge test bench, video tape clips showing various process, and Dick as mentor
to guide you through with a real science approach and plenty of encouragement to
complete your project so you will have a mirror you can be proud of.
2008 Workshop Photos
The 2008 Mirror Workshop went off beautifully this year with a full class. This year, we had two refractor projects, two Cassegrains, and 11 Newtonians. And as always, we also had a lot of good company to help make the mirror grinding go by a little easier. See the Photos... See the 2007 Workshop Photos... See the 2006 Workshop Photos... The Hindle Sphere Test Bench New for 2008 participants of Mirror Workshop is a Hindle Sphere test setup for testing Cassegrain secondaries. The Cassegrain arrangement of reflecting telescope has long been sought after by users of telescopes. One difficulty with making a true classical Cassegrain is that the secondary mirror is a convex hyperboloid. With the Hindle sphere test, it is possible to test the convex hyperboloidal secondary to the precision required for perfect optical quality. Read more... The Refractor Project I considered a bold new project for the 2005 ASGH Mirror Workshop. That was a good refractor lens that could be built by a moderately experienced person under the guidance of the workshop environment. The result was a 6 inch f/15 refractor objective made from readily available optical glass with standard mirror making techniques, little special equipment, and WOW! Does it perform. Read more... |
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As you can see, projects other than primary parabolic mirrors for Newtonian telescopes are encouraged.
If you ever wanted to tackle more compound systems, refractor objectives, or make your
flats or secondary diagonals, please feel especially encouraged to come to the workshop.
Learn how to:
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We will even show you how to:
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Hopefully by participating in this exciting workshop you will be
able to learn how to make your own telescope mirror. By making your own telescope
you will enjoy observing in new and wonderful ways with the thrill that what you
see is being provided by an instrument that you crafted yourself. So whether you want to start a mirror, continue working on one that you started years ago, or finish one you were working but did not know how to get a good figure -- come to the workshop. |
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Contact Dick Parker Please contact me by e-mail at mirrorworkshop@mtbparker.com for more information and to reserve your spot. In addition, please reference the mirror workshop in your subject to avoid it being accidentally handled as spam. |
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Click here for a summary of telescope relationship formulas
discussed in my Stellafane and Oki-Tex presentations.|
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