Mirror in a Day (or Me and my big mouth)

I thought when I left high school I had forever freed myself from the
insidious influence of peer pressure. OH NO! As I sit here with claws
for hands and trembling arms I shall tell you my tale of....

Mirror In A Day

It all started about a week ago, we were chatting away on our club's
email group and one of my buddy's proposed an exciting project.
Forming a Messier observing group using small aperture scopes (8"
max). We were all excited and within a week we had a list that was
fast exceeding twenty members. I was named the records keeper for the
group and we had a set of guidelines in no time.

Now, my husband, Cary, is the ATM teacher of the club and he saw a
wonderful opportunity to get some more folks making mirrors so he
invited members to lend even more of a sense of history to the project
by having them grind 4" mirrors and construct telescopes that lent
themselves to the true spirit of the group.

The leader of the group replied his concerns that this would take too
long and that those making their own scopes would get left out of
first light. Cary replied that a 4" scope could be ground in a day, a
claim that was met with incredulty. Being the loyal wife and, more
importantly, a woman who loves a challenge, I threw my hat into the
ring to prove that this could indeed be done.

As we were negotiating terms, I was asked on what day would this feat
be accomplished. This question was posed a few days before Saturday,
which just happened to be the date of my husband's Full Moon Telescope
Workshop (a free, all day walk-in telescope repair/making clinic
hosted in our home). Like an idiot, I said I would do it during the
workshop so that every could watch the process. I was allowed 24 hours
total and my husband was allowed to instruct me but not to do *any* of
the labor.

So Friday evening the blank, tools and grit entered my home. I began
to panic. What in the heck had I done? What if I couldn't do it? ME
AND MY BIG MOUTH!

Saturday morning, I got up at six, made breakfast and cleaned the
house. I was procrastinating. Cary began to quietly set up our
kitchen. My stomach rolled over. He came into the living room and
said. "Well, you better get started." There it was, put up or shut up.
As honor and keeping my word are fore-most in my book of aspirations,
I put on my apron, resplendant with planets and stars, and for the
first time laid my hands to mirror glass.

At first I was terrified of the little blank. It was certainly a bit
beat up by the time I got it, being an object shuffled around from
place to place with no one to realize it's latent inner potential. And
so it began, I started to work using my breaks to send periodic
message to my club's email group alerting them to my progress.

Messages to the group:
10:17 am Titled: "It Has Begun!" (During this process we would tape
what we were doing with Cary explaining each step of the process.)
Text: "I will check in periodicaly through-out the process of grinding
my 4" mirror. Cary and I are video taping it for evidence. )

I have just completed a bevel on my mirror and tool and we are setting
up to begin grinding."

11:07 am - Titled: "Fine Grinding has begun."
Text: "I've got the basic shape and I am now starting on the finer
grits. Cary used a REALLY stinky pen to mark the mirror and that
slowed me down a bit. I am doing *all* of the labor and our digital
camera is on the fritz so we will just have to frame grab off of the
video tape. If people want to view the tape we will make arrangements
somehow. Having a blast!"

note: Cary was amazed at the heat of the mirror when he stopped to
check it. I explained that it was all of my Tai Chi training......

11:51 am Titled: "Whoops!!!!"
Text: "Did I scare you?

I get a break from grinding while Cary attempts to pry the mirror from
the tool. All of a sudden I felt the two suction cup together within
just a few strokes.

Aha! Cary just got them apart, now it is time to check and see if I
can move on to a finer grit."

3:41 pm Titled: "One Step Closer" (After a long break for *sore* arms
and hands)
Text: "I finished the 15 Micron grit and will be moving onto 3 Micron
before the final polishing. My personal goal is to be complete before
10 pm to have finished the mirror in less than 12 hours and ship it
off for coating on Monday.

I am wiping the sleep from my eyes and we are preparing to open our
home to everyone so if you are curious to see if I have the grit to
finish, stop on in."

5:53 pm Titled: "Pitch is Poured" (By this time our house began to
fill up, I was surrounded by a large group of people who just stood
there watching me. NO PRESSURE, EH? I took a break to order pizza and
eat a piece while Cary was preparing the pitch)
Text: "Cary has poured the pitch and is shaping it on the tool. We
attempted to pour the pitch onto an aluminum tool but it would not
stick. We now have poured the pitch to the glass tool I have been
using and I am about to hit the cerium oxide and go to town! Long road
of polishing begins. Wish me luck! I feel like I am about to have our
third child! Of course, Keith has to go on about how dinky the mirror
is!"

7:56 pm - (My arms are like lead. Cary had made vaugue hints about how
long polishing would take BUT I HAD NO CLUE WHAT HE *REALLY* MEANT)
Titled: " Whoops!!!!)
Text: "Still Polishing. *NOW* I understand the emotional involvement
Cary has in his mirrors. LOL. I think about another half hour of
polishing and I will be complete. We shall see but I am shooting for
completion in less than 12 hours. I *cannot* imagine working on an 8"
mirror and having to do an emergency save. My heart couldn't take it!"

(By this time I was beginning to get *really* tired and the polishing
seemed ENDLESS! I began to doubt if I could achieve my personal goal
of completion in less than 12 hours.)

9:09 pm - Titled: "Completed"
Text: "At 9:09 pm this evening I finished polishing. A 4" mirror was
completed to spec by a *GIRL*! Who's next?

Dawn
.....She of the cramped hands......"

And so I was done! I had upheld my honor, I proved that chicks "got
grit", and I have a nifty little mirror ready to ship off for coating.
Now, can I complete the telescope body and get the mirror in so I can
have a telescope, start to finish, of my own manufacture, in a week? I
will have John Dobson sign it when he stops in for a visit in
February. The final touch.

(Why do I keep doing this to myself?)

Dawn Chleborad
.....who is now thinking of eyepieces......

Wonderful, inspiring story! Some day...

--Ben

Respect ;-)
jc


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Congratulations on doing a mirror in a short order.
Several years ago, I helped both Bob Goff and John Dobson make mirrors up at
RTMC. Bob did his mirror in several days, pausing to talk to people for
long periods when nobody wanted to grind. John, on the other hand, setup a
bench where two people could sit with the 10" mirror between them and they
took turns grinding and polishing. The mirror hardly ever stopped except to
get a wet cleaned off of it and it was back to hard, fast grinding work.
Bob's 6" mirror took 2 days to do and ended up being a nice mirror that
tested well on the startest while John's mirror was done in 1 day and
silvered for viewing the twilight stars. John's mirror also had a number of
pits in the central 1/2 of the mirror from the lack of enough grinding time.

--
Bob May
Losing weight is easy! If you ever want to lose weight, eat and drink less.
Works evevery time it is tried!

On 9 Nov 2003 08:35:55 -0800, (Dawn Baird-Chleborad) wrote:

snip

And so I was done! I had upheld my honor, I proved that chicks "got
grit", and I have a nifty little mirror ready to ship off for coating.
Now, can I complete the telescope body and get the mirror in so I can
have a telescope, start to finish, of my own manufacture, in a week? I
will have John Dobson sign it when he stops in for a visit in
February. The final touch.

Unfortunately, that may lead to future generations to mistakenly
believe that the mirror was figured, not by you, but by the then late
Mr.Dobson instead; given that the primary survives, of course.

I say this with the miniatures I have made, and marked, in my mind's
eye.

In any case, congratulations upon your achievement, and one that
I hope will bring you many, many hours of observing enjoyment.

snip

Alan

Way to go!!!!

Clear Skies

Chuck Taylor
Do you observe the moon?
Try the Lunar Observing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lunar-observing/

"Dawn Baird-Chleborad" wrote in message
m...
I thought when I left high school I had forever freed myself from the
insidious influence of peer pressure. OH NO! As I sit here with claws
for hands and trembling arms I shall tell you my tale of....

Mirror In A Day

It all started about a week ago, we were chatting away on our club's
email group and one of my buddy's proposed an exciting project.
Forming a Messier observing group using small aperture scopes (8"
max). We were all excited and within a week we had a list that was
fast exceeding twenty members. I was named the records keeper for the
group and we had a set of guidelines in no time.

Now, my husband, Cary, is the ATM teacher of the club and he saw a
wonderful opportunity to get some more folks making mirrors so he
invited members to lend even more of a sense of history to the project
by having them grind 4" mirrors and construct telescopes that lent
themselves to the true spirit of the group.

The leader of the group replied his concerns that this would take too
long and that those making their own scopes would get left out of
first light. Cary replied that a 4" scope could be ground in a day, a
claim that was met with incredulty. Being the loyal wife and, more
importantly, a woman who loves a challenge, I threw my hat into the
ring to prove that this could indeed be done.

As we were negotiating terms, I was asked on what day would this feat
be accomplished. This question was posed a few days before Saturday,
which just happened to be the date of my husband's Full Moon Telescope
Workshop (a free, all day walk-in telescope repair/making clinic
hosted in our home). Like an idiot, I said I would do it during the
workshop so that every could watch the process. I was allowed 24 hours
total and my husband was allowed to instruct me but not to do *any* of
the labor.

So Friday evening the blank, tools and grit entered my home. I began
to panic. What in the heck had I done? What if I couldn't do it? ME
AND MY BIG MOUTH!

Saturday morning, I got up at six, made breakfast and cleaned the
house. I was procrastinating. Cary began to quietly set up our
kitchen. My stomach rolled over. He came into the living room and
said. "Well, you better get started." There it was, put up or shut up.
As honor and keeping my word are fore-most in my book of aspirations,
I put on my apron, resplendant with planets and stars, and for the
first time laid my hands to mirror glass.

At first I was terrified of the little blank. It was certainly a bit
beat up by the time I got it, being an object shuffled around from
place to place with no one to realize it's latent inner potential. And
so it began, I started to work using my breaks to send periodic
message to my club's email group alerting them to my progress.

Messages to the group:
10:17 am Titled: "It Has Begun!" (During this process we would tape
what we were doing with Cary explaining each step of the process.)
Text: "I will check in periodicaly through-out the process of grinding
my 4" mirror. Cary and I are video taping it for evidence. )

I have just completed a bevel on my mirror and tool and we are setting
up to begin grinding."

11:07 am - Titled: "Fine Grinding has begun."
Text: "I've got the basic shape and I am now starting on the finer
grits. Cary used a REALLY stinky pen to mark the mirror and that
slowed me down a bit. I am doing *all* of the labor and our digital
camera is on the fritz so we will just have to frame grab off of the
video tape. If people want to view the tape we will make arrangements
somehow. Having a blast!"

note: Cary was amazed at the heat of the mirror when he stopped to
check it. I explained that it was all of my Tai Chi training......

11:51 am Titled: "Whoops!!!!"
Text: "Did I scare you?

I get a break from grinding while Cary attempts to pry the mirror from
the tool. All of a sudden I felt the two suction cup together within
just a few strokes.

Aha! Cary just got them apart, now it is time to check and see if I
can move on to a finer grit."

3:41 pm Titled: "One Step Closer" (After a long break for *sore* arms
and hands)
Text: "I finished the 15 Micron grit and will be moving onto 3 Micron
before the final polishing. My personal goal is to be complete before
10 pm to have finished the mirror in less than 12 hours and ship it
off for coating on Monday.

I am wiping the sleep from my eyes and we are preparing to open our
home to everyone so if you are curious to see if I have the grit to
finish, stop on in."

5:53 pm Titled: "Pitch is Poured" (By this time our house began to
fill up, I was surrounded by a large group of people who just stood
there watching me. NO PRESSURE, EH? I took a break to order pizza and
eat a piece while Cary was preparing the pitch)
Text: "Cary has poured the pitch and is shaping it on the tool. We
attempted to pour the pitch onto an aluminum tool but it would not
stick. We now have poured the pitch to the glass tool I have been
using and I am about to hit the cerium oxide and go to town! Long road
of polishing begins. Wish me luck! I feel like I am about to have our
third child! Of course, Keith has to go on about how dinky the mirror
is!"

7:56 pm - (My arms are like lead. Cary had made vaugue hints about how
long polishing would take BUT I HAD NO CLUE WHAT HE *REALLY* MEANT)
Titled: " Whoops!!!!)
Text: "Still Polishing. *NOW* I understand the emotional involvement
Cary has in his mirrors. LOL. I think about another half hour of
polishing and I will be complete. We shall see but I am shooting for
completion in less than 12 hours. I *cannot* imagine working on an 8"
mirror and having to do an emergency save. My heart couldn't take it!"

(By this time I was beginning to get *really* tired and the polishing
seemed ENDLESS! I began to doubt if I could achieve my personal goal
of completion in less than 12 hours.)

9:09 pm - Titled: "Completed"
Text: "At 9:09 pm this evening I finished polishing. A 4" mirror was
completed to spec by a *GIRL*! Who's next?

Dawn
....She of the cramped hands......"

And so I was done! I had upheld my honor, I proved that chicks "got
grit", and I have a nifty little mirror ready to ship off for coating.
Now, can I complete the telescope body and get the mirror in so I can
have a telescope, start to finish, of my own manufacture, in a week? I
will have John Dobson sign it when he stops in for a visit in
February. The final touch.

(Why do I keep doing this to myself?)

Dawn Chleborad
....who is now thinking of eyepieces......

Alan W. Craft wrote in message news Unfortunately, that may lead to future generations to mistakenly
believe that the mirror was figured, not by you, but by the then late
Mr.Dobson instead; given that the primary survives, of course.

Errrr.... That's a good point. I think I will then opt for a photo
instead. One that I can get gussied up for. My last photo with John
was taken early am when I was quite dishelved and we were sending him
off with my youngest and Cary to go visit the monastary. (No make-up,
freaky hair, yech.)

I like that idea better. ) Thanks for the heads up Alan!

Dawn Chleborad
P.S. Cary wants me to paint it yellow and name it Nuprin
"Little, Yellow, Different...."

On 9 Nov 2003 18:46:12 -0800, (Dawn Baird-Chleborad) wrote:

Alan W. Craft wrote in message news Unfortunately, that may lead to future generations to mistakenly
believe that the mirror was figured, not by you, but by the then late
Mr.Dobson instead; given that the primary survives, of course.

Errrr.... That's a good point. I think I will then opt for a photo
instead. One that I can get gussied up for. My last photo with John
was taken early am when I was quite dishelved and we were sending him
off with my youngest and Cary to go visit the monastary. (No make-up,
freaky hair, yech.)

I like that idea better. ) Thanks for the heads up Alan!

Dawn Chleborad
P.S. Cary wants me to paint it yellow and name it Nuprin
"Little, Yellow, Different...."

I'll bet it will be especially enjoyable being so portable.

And, yes, yellow would be nice, but not too yellow, mind you.

Also, any name you might decide to apply should be in yellow's
complementary secondary; that is, purple.

Alan

"Chuck Taylor" wrote in message ...
Way to go!!!!

Clear Skies

Chuck Taylor
Do you observe the moon?
Try the Lunar Observing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lunar-observing/

"Dawn Baird-Chleborad" wrote in message
m...
I thought when I left high school I had forever freed myself from the
insidious influence of peer pressure. OH NO! As I sit here with claws
for hands and trembling arms I shall tell you my tale of....

Mirror In A Day

It all started about a week ago, we were chatting away on our club's
email group and one of my buddy's proposed an exciting project.
Forming a Messier observing group using small aperture scopes (8"
max). We were all excited and within a week we had a list that was
fast exceeding twenty members. I was named the records keeper for the
group and we had a set of guidelines in no time.

Now, my husband, Cary, is the ATM teacher of the club and he saw a
wonderful opportunity to get some more folks making mirrors so he
invited members to lend even more of a sense of history to the project
by having them grind 4" mirrors and construct telescopes that lent
themselves to the true spirit of the group.

The leader of the group replied his concerns that this would take too
long and that those making their own scopes would get left out of
first light. Cary replied that a 4" scope could be ground in a day, a
claim that was met with incredulty. Being the loyal wife and, more
importantly, a woman who loves a challenge, I threw my hat into the
ring to prove that this could indeed be done.

As we were negotiating terms, I was asked on what day would this feat
be accomplished. This question was posed a few days before Saturday,
which just happened to be the date of my husband's Full Moon Telescope
Workshop (a free, all day walk-in telescope repair/making clinic
hosted in our home). Like an idiot, I said I would do it during the
workshop so that every could watch the process. I was allowed 24 hours
total and my husband was allowed to instruct me but not to do *any* of
the labor.

So Friday evening the blank, tools and grit entered my home. I began
to panic. What in the heck had I done? What if I couldn't do it? ME
AND MY BIG MOUTH!

Saturday morning, I got up at six, made breakfast and cleaned the
house. I was procrastinating. Cary began to quietly set up our
kitchen. My stomach rolled over. He came into the living room and
said. "Well, you better get started." There it was, put up or shut up.
As honor and keeping my word are fore-most in my book of aspirations,
I put on my apron, resplendant with planets and stars, and for the
first time laid my hands to mirror glass.

At first I was terrified of the little blank. It was certainly a bit
beat up by the time I got it, being an object shuffled around from
place to place with no one to realize it's latent inner potential. And
so it began, I started to work using my breaks to send periodic
message to my club's email group alerting them to my progress.

Messages to the group:
10:17 am Titled: "It Has Begun!" (During this process we would tape
what we were doing with Cary explaining each step of the process.)
Text: "I will check in periodicaly through-out the process of grinding
my 4" mirror. Cary and I are video taping it for evidence. )

I have just completed a bevel on my mirror and tool and we are setting
up to begin grinding."

11:07 am - Titled: "Fine Grinding has begun."
Text: "I've got the basic shape and I am now starting on the finer
grits. Cary used a REALLY stinky pen to mark the mirror and that
slowed me down a bit. I am doing *all* of the labor and our digital
camera is on the fritz so we will just have to frame grab off of the
video tape. If people want to view the tape we will make arrangements
somehow. Having a blast!"

note: Cary was amazed at the heat of the mirror when he stopped to
check it. I explained that it was all of my Tai Chi training......

11:51 am Titled: "Whoops!!!!"
Text: "Did I scare you?

I get a break from grinding while Cary attempts to pry the mirror from
the tool. All of a sudden I felt the two suction cup together within
just a few strokes.

Aha! Cary just got them apart, now it is time to check and see if I
can move on to a finer grit."

3:41 pm Titled: "One Step Closer" (After a long break for *sore* arms
and hands)
Text: "I finished the 15 Micron grit and will be moving onto 3 Micron
before the final polishing. My personal goal is to be complete before
10 pm to have finished the mirror in less than 12 hours and ship it
off for coating on Monday.

I am wiping the sleep from my eyes and we are preparing to open our
home to everyone so if you are curious to see if I have the grit to
finish, stop on in."

5:53 pm Titled: "Pitch is Poured" (By this time our house began to
fill up, I was surrounded by a large group of people who just stood
there watching me. NO PRESSURE, EH? I took a break to order pizza and
eat a piece while Cary was preparing the pitch)
Text: "Cary has poured the pitch and is shaping it on the tool. We
attempted to pour the pitch onto an aluminum tool but it would not
stick. We now have poured the pitch to the glass tool I have been
using and I am about to hit the cerium oxide and go to town! Long road
of polishing begins. Wish me luck! I feel like I am about to have our
third child! Of course, Keith has to go on about how dinky the mirror
is!"

7:56 pm - (My arms are like lead. Cary had made vaugue hints about how
long polishing would take BUT I HAD NO CLUE WHAT HE *REALLY* MEANT)
Titled: " Whoops!!!!)
Text: "Still Polishing. *NOW* I understand the emotional involvement
Cary has in his mirrors. LOL. I think about another half hour of
polishing and I will be complete. We shall see but I am shooting for
completion in less than 12 hours. I *cannot* imagine working on an 8"
mirror and having to do an emergency save. My heart couldn't take it!"

(By this time I was beginning to get *really* tired and the polishing
seemed ENDLESS! I began to doubt if I could achieve my personal goal
of completion in less than 12 hours.)

9:09 pm - Titled: "Completed"
Text: "At 9:09 pm this evening I finished polishing. A 4" mirror was
completed to spec by a *GIRL*! Who's next?

Dawn
....She of the cramped hands......"

And so I was done! I had upheld my honor, I proved that chicks "got
grit", and I have a nifty little mirror ready to ship off for coating.
Now, can I complete the telescope body and get the mirror in so I can
have a telescope, start to finish, of my own manufacture, in a week? I
will have John Dobson sign it when he stops in for a visit in
February. The final touch.

(Why do I keep doing this to myself?)

Dawn Chleborad
....who is now thinking of eyepieces......

Impressive

(Dawn Baird-Chleborad) wrote in message om...

Mirror In A Day

This gets my vote as one of the all time enjoyable reads on SAA.

Thanks for sharing,

Randy