From: Dominic-Luc Webb 
To: at making 
cc: atm{at}shore.net
Reply-To: Dominic-Luc Webb 


On Thu, 17 Apr 2003, at making wrote:

> I would like to know if their is good coating service somewhere in europe,
> if possible near france. (UK, suitzerland, belgium, luxembourg, spain,
> italy). It's for a 32" blank.

Many university astronomy departments have facilities. They are often
willing to include your mirror in their chamber if it fits in with their
schedule to aluminize their own glass. Be forewarned that the prices are
often high enough here in Europe that you will save quite a bit of money
shipping back and forth to the States (even after 9/11). As a rule, the
academic institutions, which need these facilities for basic research, do
not want coatings, and so, the technician may genuinely have no experience
in how to apply protective coatings.

The last time I priced out doing this at a local university (1998, I am in
Sweden), the price for an 8-12 inch mirror was around 250 EU if they were
aluminizing their own mirrors and there was space. Otherwise, the charge
was between 500 and 1000 EU. Surprisingly, I am not hearing about people
silvering their glass, although, I have a couple specimens I plan to
silver.

Dominic

--- BBBS/NT v4.00 MP