A small project I will probably have to get back to (after 20 years!) is a 9″ F/5 splitting telescope project. This project is a bit of a prototype for larger telescopes so it should prove out the design for larger projects to come.
The mirror for this project was procured in 2002 from Richard Schwartz, an ATM in California that was creating “slumped” mirror blanks 1″ thick in float glass. This process uses a kiln to heat up a mirror blank not so it melts but becomes soft enough to conform to a mould it is placed on. This was the last project I worked on before taking a long hiatus from amateur telescope making due to having two kids. The parts have sat in my observatory for the duration so I pulled them out recently to take a picture for someone working on a similar project on cloudy nights ATM forum.
The mirror has been ground and polished to a sphere, as I was planning to experiment with flex mirrors (which are pulled into a paraboloid using a threaded bolt) but I think I’ll just parabolize it manually to simplify the build. A winter project!
Here are some more images:
