Patrick, sorry I didn't pick up on the joke . . . Chuck, you answered my question. I have the time, I would like to do it, but at a $1000 I know what the wife would say . . . . go buy a 10 or 12 inch pre-made dob after you have the cash and save us some cash, or save up for that new refractor I want. I'll have to pass since we don't have an extra $1000 around . . . an extra $400 I have saving toward another scope, so I'll just keep saving. Sounds like I should place my ambition on getting SPOC certified come April when I'm eligible. I looked at Steve Dodds' Nova Optical and for a 12.5 inch he wants $1000. Though I wouldn't have to worry about shipping since I live in Herriman I think for now I'll just wait to do something like this. Thanks, Jay On 2009-01-07 05:00, Chuck Hards wrote:

On Tue, Jan 6, 2009 at 8:12 PM, Patrick Wiggins <paw@???>wrote:

...

And maybe Chuck Hards here on the list (Chuck have you made any mirrors recently?).

Not recently...not in this century, lol!

These days, it's not really cost-effective to make a small mirror, but a 13" home-made mirror could be made at tremendous savings. For example, you can get finished 8" Chinese mirrors of decent quality for under a hundred bucks, but a full-thickness (6:1 diameter-to-thickness) 12.5" mirror could run you a thousand dollars, easily. Larger than that, and some serious cash can be saved- like the price of a used car! That said, figuring a large diameter, "thin" mirror isn't generally a good first project, although having said that, some people have done it and done it well. With all of the ATM experts in the SLAS and OAS clubs, I'm sure anyone seriously contemplating grinding their own mirror could easily get all the help they need.