Please forgive me, what is 'ATM'? ________________________________ From: Patrick Wiggins <paw@wirelessbeehive.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2012 2:30 AM Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Seeking article on ATM sessions for Nova Would any of you folks participating in these ATM session be willing to pen a few paragraphs about the sessions for inclusion in Nova? Pictures to illustrate the article would be nice too. patrick On 09 Apr 2012, at 17:28, Hutchings, Mat (H USA) wrote:
Okay, this post has nothing to do with the solar eclipse, so it may be a refreshing change...
Had a great ATM session on 4/7. Several people showed up with work being done on the following: an 8" mirror, an observing chair and the mechanical part of an 8" dobsonian.
The 8" blank belongs to my son and he started work on it after taking 12 years away from it. Back those many years ago, we wanted to make an 8", f10, optimized as a solar system scope, but life happened and it was put aside. Now he is a college student and carting around a telescope that is ~7 feet long seems like a bad idea. So he started reworking the curve to f5. It was a bit sad to see the nice, fine ground surface get a treatment with 60 grit. But it had to happen. All ATMers present watched with interest and maybe a tear or two as this nice surface got the crap beat out of it with tile tool and 60 grit.
Jay worked on his observing chair, and I must say that this chair is starting to be a thing of beauty. I definitely have chair envy. Another work session or two, should complete the chair. Also, I was impressed by the skills of Josh with my table saw. He made some cuts that I would not have tried. We all went home with all of our fingers still attached and that is a good thing.
Troy, Levi, Hayden and Christian all worked on their 8" telescope. It is starting to take shape well and should probably be finished in a few sessions.
Last, but certainly not least, a very generous ATMer made an offer of a 5 5/8" blank to anyone who would like to start working it, just for the asking. As it turns out, a candidate came by late in the ATM session, and accepted the offer. I am also kicking in the use of barrel and barrel top for him to get started. That barrel was obtained from Josh and I made the top. It is great to see others helping people who are new to the hobby.
Happy grinding,
Mat
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