From: Gord Tulloch 
To: atm{at}shore.net
Reply-To: Gord Tulloch 


kwhitefire{at}juno.com wrote:
> - 10" primary mirror; f/6 f/5 or f/4? I want to go ahead with night sky
> photography (my old manual Nikon screams to be back in business)
> - A cheap reliable source for mirror blank and kit (eventually I'll try to
> salvage and use the second glass, build a plaster tool etc. more info will
> be requested at later time)
> - A good source for aluminizing the mirror
> I am surviving on canadian soil, so local sources around Toronto area would
> be preferable (unemployment doesn't pay too much here)
> is there any chance my EQ3 will hold a tube of a 10" telescope without
> bending all over in high winds? I realize I need to modify the clamps; but
> that looks like a minimum investment.

Howzit going eh? Nice to see another Canuck on the list :)

1. I'd agree, go f6, f5 if you're concerned about tube length (f4 IMHO is too short)

2. The only blank supplier I know of in Canada is ASM Products in Quebec
- I like his stuff but YMMV, research on the list archives and make up
your own mind. I'm figuring my 8" BVC blank and the whole process has
gone pretty well. Don't bother buying a kit like I did, get the blank, the
abrasives, CeO and pitch from ASM (or whoever) - otherwise from ASM you'll
get abrasives you don't need (46 grit) and a plate glass tool (you'll want
to make a cast dental stone tool instead.) I recently ordered additional
supplies from GotGrit in the US and found them very expensive after
exchange, duty, taxes, and brokerage fees :( There was another supplier of
abrasives of Montreal but they appear to not carry them anymore, based on
their websites. See my site for supplier links and some ATM articles I'm
writing for my local RASC center.

3. See my site for a link to Moonward Coatings in Sudbury, as well as a
cost spreadsheet for Silvering. On the pogey you might want to just go for
aluminizing because silvering will cost more on the first mirror, it gets
cost effective after the first one though.

Good luck!

Regards,
   Gord
--
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"If you were plowing a field, which would you rather use?
  Two strong oxen or 1024 chickens?"
- Seymour Cray (1925-1996), father of supercomputing
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Gord Tulloch, RASC Winnipeg http://members.shaw.ca/gtulloch
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