Stellafane 2009-10 Mirror Class
Announcements
This class is over. To sign up for a future Mirror Class, see the pink box on the Mirror Class Main Page. We expect the next class to start in October 2010. Please email any questions or corrections to mirrorclass@stellafane.org.
Schedule & Class Pictures
A photo album of a session is typically added to the table below within a week of when the session was held.
| Schedule Including brief notes about the session |
Class Pictures Click Image for Photo Album |
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0: Saturday, October 3, 2009:
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1: Saturday, October 17, 2009:
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2: Saturday, November 14, 2009:
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X1: Saturday, November 21, 2009:
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X2: Saturday, December 05, 2009:
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3: Saturday, December 12, 2009:
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4: Sunday, January 17, 2010:
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5: Saturday, February 13, 2010
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6: Saturday, March 13, 2010:
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7: Saturday, April 10, 2010:
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Mirror Status
Here is a report on our participants' progress:
| Mirror Maker *Club Member |
Mirror Size/Type |
Focal Ratio |
Mirror Status |
Status Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amit | 8" | 7 | 40u | 11/09 |
| Cecilia | 8" | 6 | Figure | 04/10 |
| -Katie | 6" | 8 | Figure | 04/10 |
| -Randy F | 8" | 6 | Figure | 04/10 |
| -Sarah | 4¼" | 7 | Rough | 04/10 |
| Claudio | 8" | 6 | Figure | 04/10 |
| Dave T* | 6" | 10 | Rough | 04/10 |
| -Samantha* | 10" | 5 | Polish | 04/10 |
| David M* | 8" | 6 | Polish | 04/10 |
| David N | 8" | 6 | Figure | 04/10 |
| Dixie | 6" | 6 | 40u | 10/09 |
| Fran | 6" | 6 | Done! | 02/10 |
| Fran | 10" | 6 | Done! | 03/10 |
| Francis | 12½" | Flat | 22u | 04/10 |
| Glenn* | 6" | 5 | Figure | 02/10 |
| Jeff L* | 17" | 5 | 220 | 02/10 |
| Jeff W | 8" | 6 | Polish | 02/10 |
| Jim* | 8" | 6.0 | Done! | 10/09 |
| John | 8" | 220 | 04/10 | |
| -Nicholas | 8" | 220 | 04/10 | |
| Meredith | 8" | 120 | 12/09 | |
| Michael | 8 | 6 | Done! | 04/10 |
| Nancy* | 6" | 7 | 120 | 01/10 |
| Paul S | 6" | 8 | Rough | 02/10 |
| -Jean Z | 8" | 6 | Polish | 03/10 |
| Peter | 8" | 6 | 120 | 01/10 |
| Phil* | 10" | 4 | Done! | 01/10 |
| Rick | 8" | 7 | Polish | 04/10 |
| -Kayla | 6" | Polish | 03/10 | |
| -Terry | 6" | Polish | 03/10 | |
| Rob | 8" | 6 | Figure | 04/10 |
| -Leonard | 8" | 6 | 120 | 04/10 |
| Ryan | 8" | 7 | Done! | 01/10 |
| Team Reilly | 6" | 4.2 | Figure | 10/09 |
| Zhenya | 6" | Polish | 04/10 | |
| -Carl* | 4¼" | 8 | Polish | 04/10 |
| -Tatiana | 4¼" | 8 | Polish | 04/10 |
| 37 Students | 37 Mirrors | 6 Done | ||
Instructors
Thanks to our large group of volunteer instructors, we can hold these mirror class and give everyone the individualized attention they require. Several of our instructors work professionally in the optics industry, and many have competed dozens or mirrors and more complicated optics as amateurs.
Officers, Trustees and Full Members of the club have had to successfully made a mirror or other quality optical surface.
 Mirror Class Leader, Full Member Eats #80 Grit for a Snack! |
 Full Member Making Mirror Kits |
 Full Member & Treasurer Uncrating a 16" Blank in the Bunkhouse |
 Full Member Using the Foucault Tester |
 Full Member Demonstrates Polishing Techniques |
 President Mechanical Judging at Convention |
 Associate Member With a Mirror he completed in 2009 |
 Associate Member Showing a student how to Measure Saggitta |
 Associate Member Jeff with a Mirror he just finished in 2008 |
 Associate Member At the 2007 Stellafane Convention |
 Full Member & Trustee Assembling the Domed Observatory |
 Full Member Making Pitch Laps at the 2001 Convention |
 Full Member At the Foucault Tester |
 Trustee & Webmaster Explaining Foucault Testing |
 Full Member & Secretary Making a Pitch Lap in the 2006-07 Class |
 Full Member At the 2007 Convention |
 Full Member At the 2006 Stellafane Convention |
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Final Report
Another year of the Stellafane Mirror Class comes to completion in April 2010 and is archived to the history books. And what a wonderful class it was this year. Interest in amateur telescope making remains very strong and we (unfortunately) had to refer some prospective students to alternate mirror making venues due to our limitations in facilities. Even so, this was the largest, and most enthusiastic, group of mirror makers we have enrolled. Luckily we also had some dedicated new volunteer instructors to help keep things moving and fun. Since we had a large influx of beginning grinders in October we moved rough grinding down to the Flanders Pavilion. Dave Tabor and Ray Morits set up a great workshop there and the new students started slinging 80-grit. Through the autumn the rough grinding continued in the Pavilion with fine grinding in the Bunkhouse and polishing/figuring in the McGregor Library. For the first time in years we provided plate glass tools to some students, and these worked out quite well. Still, STM Trustee Ken Slater has already built up a stock of tile tools for next year's class, and we will return to this Stellafane tradition in the fall of 2010.
Our student body was quite diverse, with men, women, and children of all ages. We had some long distance commuters with several folks from New York and even a wonderful student flying in from Florida every month! Many of our mirror makers were happily working at home between class sessions, and several finished up using the zonal Foucault test on their own. As the cold weather set in, we moved operations to our winter home at the Fletcher House in Chester, Vermont. Many thanks to the Newsbank Corporation for providing this facility, and to Julie Tabor for her endless hard work in keeping the place clean and productive. Preceptor of Parabolas Dave Kelly continued to mentor students on the crucial final figures of their mirrors, and has outfitted his autocollimator with video to help groups analyze surfaces. Jeff Parenteau gave a detailed class in Foucault testing and Dick Parker brought his autocollimator to help with final figuring and also continued to encourage our Refractor Interest Group in their lens making. We had a rather large donation of professional grade polishing slurries from a local manufacturer and students began using appropriately pink colored cerium. All in all this was a terrific Mirror Class season. We will fold up operations for the summer while we work on getting Breezy Hill ready for the Stellafane Convention and will resume classes this fall.
As one experienced ATM instructor said, "Congrats on an awesome 2009 - 2010 Mirror Class! Most fun I have had with any mirror class group."
| Attendance | Oct 3 |
Oct 17 |
Nov 14 |
Nov 21 |
Dec 5 |
Dec 12 |
Jan 17 |
Feb 13 |
Mar 13 |
April 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Students | 12 | 18 | 21 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 16 | 14 | 17 | 15 |
| Instructors | 9 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 11 |