2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class
Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25

Rough Grinding

Done in Mirror lab 1 in the Pavilion, and overseen by Francis O'Reilly.

2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Rough Grinding Francis O'Reilly, rough grinding instructor, keeping an eye on his students and his camera handy.	2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Rough Grinding Tom makes notes in his grinding log.	2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Rough Grinding John squirts water on his grit before grinding.
2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Rough Grinding Fran grinds with a weight on his tool to improve grinding speed.	2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Rough Grinding Jeffery grinds an 8-inch, Fran is working in the background.	2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Rough Grinding Jack, Francis' dog, waits outside and is always up for some petting.

Fine Grinding

Done in the Bunkhouse, overseen by Ray Morits and Dave Kelly.

2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Fine Grinding Dory fine grinds a 6-inch mirror.	2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Fine Grinding Pete fine grinds an 8-inch mirror.	2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Fine Grinding Dave Kelly demonstrates fine grinding to James, who just 'graduated' from rough grinding.
2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Fine Grinding Ken Slater (red shirt), Al Monkowski (Beige Shirt) and Ray Moritz (Head at upper right) watch James do his initial fine grinding strokes - no problems, he did very well!	2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Fine Grinding Andy is fine grinding in the bunkhouse.	2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Fine Grinding Ron is flattening a mirror from f/4 to f/6.
	2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Fine Grinding Fine Grinders: Andy foreground, James, Pete, Ron and Dory in the background.

Polishing, Figuring and Testing

Done in the bunkhouse, overseen by Ray Morits and Dave Kelly.

2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Polishing, Figuring and Testing Read is polishing his 8-inch mirror.

2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Polishing, Figuring and Testing Glenn burned himself with hot pitch - ouch! (Did not happen at mirror class).

Vertical Tile Tools

Karl is experimenting with Vertical Tile Tools after seeing a YouTube video by Gordon Waite. They are built upside down, with a removable filler holding the tiles in place and the dental stone base being poured on top. Best removable filler so far: Silly Putty!

2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Vertical Tile Tools Silly Putty is being peeled off a freshly made Vertical Tile Tool.

2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Vertical Tile Tools Several generations of vertical tile tools are sitting on Karl's polishing barrel with his elliptical secondary pitch lap.

2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Vertical Tile Tools Karl at work cleaning up a tile tool or channeling his pitch lap.

Refractor Lenses

Several members are working on refractors, but only Rick Hunter actually did work this day.

2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Refractor Lenses Rick wets the surface and holds it to the sun on the bunkhouse porch. To support the lens, Rick has taped the lens to the mating tool around the edge to support and make flat the back side.

2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Refractor Lenses Rick is grinding on surface of one lens.

2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Refractor Lenses The backmost surface of the doublet is convex, so this grinding tool for it is concave.

Elliptical Secondary

Karl is making an elliptical secondary for his telescope. The secondary is small and requires a special setup to test.

2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Elliptical Secondary The 2½-inch f/17 Elliptical Secondary is being figured on a matching small lap.

2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Elliptical Secondary To test an ellipse, you put the light source at once focus and the knife edge at the other - somewhat tricky to set up. This is Dave Kelly's tester with Karl and his secondary on it.

2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Elliptical Secondary It is always a good idea to keep a detailed log book whenever you are making optics, and especially important for complex optics like an elliptical secondary. Karl reviews his notes before proceeding.

Solar Viewing

Jay set up the Schupmann for solar viewing, and brought along a 31mm Nagler for a nice wide-angle view.

2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Solar Viewing Tom takes a look at the sun, and the big sunspot group AR 2182 that was visible.

2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Solar Viewing Tom took this shot of sunspot group AR 2182 by hand holding his iPad up the eyepiece.

2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Solar Viewing Ron a few steps up the ladder looks at the sunspot group though the Schupmann.

Sundial

Jim brought along a sundial he made, and it attracted members like flies to honey.

2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Sundial Michael Patterson, Jay Drew, Ken Slater, Jim and Dave Prowten gather around the sundial.	2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Sundial An engraved slate sundial on a steel stand - very nice!	2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Sundial Jim, Ken and Michael talk about the sundial while Jay talks with Rick in the background.
2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Sundial This sundial is numbered to read correctly during Daylight Savings Time.	2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Sundial Jim copies a line from a table that was obscured by the binding on his book.	2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Sundial This nice engraved graph gives the Equation of Time corrections.

Around the Site

A look at some other sights and activities around the site this day.

2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Around the Site Late Fall Clubhouse Road	2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Around the Site Fallen leaves and a rotting birch log.	2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Around the Site The Porter Turret Telescope with past-peak leaves behind it to the east.
2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Around the Site Before the meeting, members and guest gather to look at a small white Schupmann telescope in front of the clubhouse.	2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Around the Site Jim Daley (white cap) adjusts the eyepiece of a small Schupmann telescope. Matt Considine to the left, Dave Prowten, Bert Willard and Glenn to the right of Jim, with Karl in the foreground.	2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Around the Site Russell Porter stands by his sundial in this photo that was obtained for the museum by Matt Considine.
2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Around the Site Still testing on Breezy Hill: Knife Edge tester set up in a darkened clubhouse.	2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Around the Site Still testing on Breezy Hill: A flat with a 'pillow' for placing a lens in front of it.	2014-15 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2014-Oct-25 Around the Site A few beams are tacked in place to keep them safe over the winter on the Spectrohelioscope foundation.