2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class
Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05

Mirror Class - Last Session this Year

Held again at Fletcher House in Chester, due to general inaccessibility of Breezy Hill, we had a great turnout and plenty going on. In this first section, we focus on the main mirror class workshop of polishing and grinding.

2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Mirror Class - Last Session this Year Bernie's Finished Mirror We start with the best - Bernie finished his mirror at this class, and did a superb job	2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Mirror Class - Last Session this Year Grinders Everywhere Samantha, Kristen & Caitlin can be seen grinding in this photo.	2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Mirror Class - Last Session this Year Samantha & Kim Both of them are doing some serious grinding.
2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Mirror Class - Last Session this Year A Little Instruction Tom is providing some guidance for both Kristen and Caitlin.	2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Mirror Class - Last Session this Year Finding Pits Kim is using an eye loop to look for large pits in her mirror. If she finds none, she can move on to the next finer grit.	2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Mirror Class - Last Session this Year Soap & Soup Rif cleans up his mirror, while Paul serves himself some soup for lunch.
2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Mirror Class - Last Session this Year Washing Up Tom washes Caitlin's tool, showing her how to get the mud out from between the tiles.	2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Mirror Class - Last Session this Year Caitlin & Chris Both were working hard on their respective mirrors this class.	2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Mirror Class - Last Session this Year Advice from Bert Bert provides Chris with some advice on grinding.
2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Mirror Class - Last Session this Year Jay Demonstrates Jay is demonstrating to Kim how to hold the mirror without dangling your fingers over the edge (finger warmth can expand the glass and cause low spots).	2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Mirror Class - Last Session this Year Jim Polishing Jim is working in the dark but grit free testing room.	2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Mirror Class - Last Session this Year Carl Polishes Carl found a spot off to the side to do his polishing.

Laps

Some photos of the laps we had at class this session

2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Laps Warming it up An unidentified finger check a lap for hardness as it warms under a halogen lamp.

2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Laps Tailgate Lap Making So as not to smell up the Fletcher house, Dennis melts some pitch on the tailgate of a pickup truck in the parking lot as Wayne chats with him.

2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Laps Star Lap Here is a great example of a star lap, used for working on the edge of a mirror and not its center. The star pattern was pressed into the lap using some thin material such as foil or paper and then removed.

Testing

A few images of the goings-on in the darkened testing room.

2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Testing Testing Dennis' old 10" Dennis brought in a mirror he made a very long time ago to see how well it was figured.

2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Testing Testing Rif's Mirror Rif's mirror gets a look under the tester by Dave as he works towards final figuring.

2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Testing Testing Wayne's Mirror Wayne did a great job on his Cassegrain primary, barely any edge problems at the central hole.

Refractor Class

Paul Valelli is teaching a refractor making class to advanced members. This session we focused on measuring and testing equipment for lenses and flats.

2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Refractor Class Flats & Fringes Paul brought a variety of flats and monochromatic light sources to view Newton's fringes.	2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Refractor Class Newton's Fringes Here you can clearly see Newton's fringes between two flats illuminated by a monochromatic light source.	2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Refractor Class Repairman Paul attempts to fix the switch on his black light setup. The white BL blub (not more come blue -BLB bulb) has a strong mercury line that can be used to view Newton's fringes.
2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Refractor Class Dave & Andy Dave & Andy discuss the tests of Andy's flats and the plan to improve them this fall.	2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Refractor Class Spectroscopic Jeff Jeff uses Ken's Spectroscope to check out his fringe box light source (a low pressure sodium bulb).	2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Refractor Class Pitch Tester Ken explains to Glenn how his pitch tester works.
2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Refractor Class Equipment Demo Ken shows Andy some of his test equipment	2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Refractor Class Edge Runout Tester Ken's Edge Thickness or Runout Tester, which he recently built in his shop to use in the refractor class.	2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Refractor Class Fringe Analysis Wayne explains to Ken the fringe analysis software he uses.

Other Images from this Day

Here are a few miscellaneous images of activities and things from this day at mirror class. it was a great year, see you next October for the next class...

2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Other Images from this Day Bunkhouse Morning Fog Jay went up to the bunkhouse to get some needed supplies, and snapped this photo. Notice the still deep snow.	2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Other Images from this Day Ragging Black River The swollen Black River roars through Springfield.	2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Other Images from this Day Tom & Paul Tom and Paul take a minute to chat at mirror class.
2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Other Images from this Day Carl's Observing Chairs Lots of observers of Carl's very nice observing chairs. Ken, Carl and Dave in the front row.	2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Other Images from this Day Two Observing Chairs Hear are two of the nice observing chairs Carl made.	2007-2008 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 7 held on 2008-Apr-05 Other Images from this Day Samantha & Jay At dinner that evening, Samantha & Jay have some fun with hats.