We had a great ATM session last month with several people present. Notable happenings was that Eric brought an Orion 8" OTA that he got a great deal on. It needs a rocker box and so a plan for that was formulated. We checked out the overall mirror surface with a Ronchi screen and it shows usual and slight defects. The most major defect was a turned down edge, so we painted off the extreme outer edge of the mirror to reduce the TDE. We also shimmed the focuser to square it up with the tube and mounted the mirror in the cell with silicone cement. We also drilled new holes for the spider and moved it more towards the end of the tube since it was not possible to properly center the secondary mirror as it was mounted. Work will continue on this scope during the next session as Eric has a good plan for a rocker box. Jeff ingeniously came up with a design for altitude bearings that clamp onto the existing small bearings. Having much larger bearings will go a long way to improving the movements of this scope. Chuck brought some parts from the Hale telescope to show. It was amazing to handle parts from such a famous telescope. By looking at drawings of that telescope, Chuck believes that one of the parts is from the prime focus cage assembly. The part looks to be a rubber damper. Thanks Chuck for showing the parts! The next session will be on 6/14/14 from 09:00 to 14:00. Come and go as you like during those times. If you would like more information, send me an e-mail off list. Mat This message and any attachments are solely for the use of intended recipients. The information contained herein may include trade secrets, protected health or personal information, privileged or otherwise confidential information. Unauthorized review, forwarding, printing, copying, distributing, or using such information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you are not an intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you received this email in error, and that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this email and any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please contact the sender and delete the message and any attachment from your system. Thank you for your cooperation