2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class
Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22

A few Comments on These Photos

We have a large number of photos this time, some due to some 'extra' non-mirror class material towards the end, and some due to just having all three photographers snapping away. One of our photographers didn't notice they had knocked their camera and had a bad setting, and some photos came out dark. We only used these when there were no others available.

Doug completes his mirror!

Well, as luck would have it, the completion photo of Doug with his mirror was one of the 'bad' photos. Here it is anyway, and the mirror is excellent! (We wouldn't call it done if it wasn't)

2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Doug completes his mirror! Doug & Dave Doug holds his completed mirror. Dave, our expert tester and figurer, helped test and consulted on the final figure.

2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Doug completes his mirror! Doug Relaxes That last photo of Dave was very dark and grainy, so here is a better one of him relaxing in the McGregor.

2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Doug completes his mirror! Carl, Doug & Fran Doug is explaining something to Carl while Fran listens also. They are looking at a drawing on the brown paper table cover.

Grinding out Mirrors

Plenty of grinding work going on in the Bunkhouse, keeping everyone busy
(and a bit warmer for the effort).

2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Grinding out Mirrors The Jones Family The Jones' are all grinding away on the porch, making good progress.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Grinding out Mirrors Chris at Work Chris is grinding in bunkhouse.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Grinding out Mirrors Caitlin prepares a new wet Sprinkling grit on her tool.
2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Grinding out Mirrors Diagonal Dixie Either the bunkhouse is collapsing, or this is an odd camera angle. Anyway, Dixie is concentrating on her grinding, and ignoring photo antics.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Grinding out Mirrors That's the Depth! Dixie checks the depth of her curve, and points to the dial indicator.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Grinding out Mirrors Dave & Dixie Dave and Dixie discuss their progress before grinding some more.
2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Grinding out Mirrors Edge Beveling Dave renews the bevel on his mirror, knelling before a dishpan on the floor.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Grinding out Mirrors Joyce & Claudio Joyce is giving Claudio some advice about his mirror.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Grinding out Mirrors Claudio Cleans He is using a toothbrush to glean grit out of the spaces between the tiles.

Lap Land

Samantha & Ray made laps this session, here are some shots of them being made,
even some pre-work by Samantha and Alex at home.

2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Lap Land Epoxy Coated At home, Samantha & Alex apply an epoxy coating to their plaster lap substrates to waterproof them.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Lap Land Classy Tool It's not hard to design a custom label to embed under the epoxy on the back of the tool. This one looks great!	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Lap Land Cracking Up Dave uses a hammer to shatter pitch in the cardboard container so he can pour it into the pitch pot. (Caught in the background is an elusive mirror class photographer!)
2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Lap Land Lap Pouring Dave pours pitch for Ray's lap.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Lap Land Channeling "Oh spirit of Porter, can you hear me?" No, not that kind of channeling. Ray presses channels into his still warm lap while Dave looks on.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Lap Land Samantha's New Lap Samantha made a new lap also. Here it has cooled enough to remove the masking tape dam.
2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Lap Land Channeling Done Samantha is just about finished pressing new channel into her lap.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Lap Land Ray Squares the Channels Working outside with latex gloves because this is a messy job, Ray uses a razor blade to open up the channels he pressed into the warm lap.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Lap Land Precision Surgery Samantha works inside on a surgical pad, cutting open her channels with a razor blade.

Finish Work

Up in the McGregor Observatory, Carl, Fran, Doug were working on polishing, figuring and testing.

2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Finish Work Carl Examines His Mirror Using a bright overhead light, Carl examines his polished mirror for sleeks and scratches. This unique lighting gives this photo a surrealistic look.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Finish Work Still Looking From another angle, Carl is still checking his mirror surface.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Finish Work Jeff Jeff is enjoying himself in this underexposed and overcorrected photo. Samantha and Julie seem to be having a good time in the background, also.
2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Finish Work Polishing & Figuring Carl and Fran both are getting ready for another polishing session. Carl is grabbing a spray bottle to wet his work.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Finish Work Fran Testing Fran has his Cassegrain primary on the test stand, getting ready to test it.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Finish Work Setting the Distance Jay helps Fran set the mirror at the proper distance from the tester.

Testers

We seem to have more than a few mirror testers at Stellafane; here is a special section on them.

2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Testers So Many Testers... ...and so little time! A bevy of testers and test stands sit on top of our test tunnel at Stellafane.

2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Testers Classic & Variant One the far left is the classic 'Stellafane Tester' described on our ATM pages. A well made black variant of this design is to the right.

2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Testers Closing the Tunnel Jay is flipping down the doors of the test tunnel prior to doing a test. A very simple knife edge tester sits at the far left of the tunnel.

People at Stellafane

We had quite a few nice photos of many of the regulars at mirror class,
so here is a small gallery of them

2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 People at Stellafane STM Secretary Dave Our newly elected club secretary, Dave, at mirror class. He is a mirror class stalwart, always there and helping out.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 People at Stellafane Samantha Samantha concentrates on cutting channels in her lap. She has made an award winning scope, and is now working on a bigger one.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 People at Stellafane Head's Head Head of the mirror class, Jay, in the McGregor for this head shot.
2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 People at Stellafane Paul Long time club member and now a retired professional optical engineer, Paul is leading the Refractor Interest Group.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 People at Stellafane John & Wayne Site Mange John enjoys the warmth of the wood stove in the bunkhouse as he talks with STM member Wayne.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 People at Stellafane Tom Tom does everything at mirror class, including providing live entertainment. Apparently, he has a good grip on the ISS Tool Bag and won't let it float away.

Refractor Interest Group

A small number of members are gearing up to make refractors. This time, we needed to make
glass tools from a big sheet of 3/4-inch plate glass and biscuit cut it into 4-inch blanks.
Cutting the sheet into a strip proved to be a challenging job!

2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Refractor Interest Group Tapping the Score Don scored the 3/4-inch plate glass, and is now tapping it to crack it while Rick hopes to catch the scored strip. No such luck, it wouldn't crack.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Refractor Interest Group Use a Bigger Hammer Perhaps a bit more force might get it to crack. Rick and Dave hold while Don whacks the glass. Still no joy.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Refractor Interest Group Engraving the Score Maybe a deeper score will work. Nope, that didn't do it either. Finally a torch was applied, and that got results.
2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Refractor Interest Group Clamped for Cutting The glass strip was clamped on wood strips to our drill press with the biscuit cutter in place.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Refractor Interest Group Read to Go Some blue tape was used to cover the sharp edges and make a dam for the water and grit that would soon be applied.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Refractor Interest Group Cutting Begins You can see the grit on the glass as the biscuit cutter begins to dig in.
2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Refractor Interest Group Spattered Grit About half way through, you can see the grit spattered on the plywood shield (and everywhere else!)	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Refractor Interest Group Done! A nice 3/4-inch thick by 4-inch diameter glass tool has been cut out of the plate glass.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Refractor Interest Group Beveling Bowl Paul uses a rotating cast iron beveling bowl to bevel the edges of the new blank.

Scenes from Stellafane

Something must have been in the air, a number of us snapped some
interesting shots of Stellafane as we moved about the site. Here are the best.

2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Scenes from Stellafane The Porter Turret Telescope as seen from inside the clubhouse.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Scenes from Stellafane Ned gets Warm Ned builds a fire in the clubhouse.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Scenes from Stellafane Robins Nest Found near the clubhouse, it now sits on a patio chair outside the clubhouse.
2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Scenes from Stellafane The Toad Our 1930's Bucyrus Erie power shovel, affectionately called 'The Toad' by members.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Scenes from Stellafane The McGregor Observatory A view through the woods.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Scenes from Stellafane Bad Hair Day? Ah, this tree had a dead top which was cut down, but now it looks like it is having a bad hair day.
2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Scenes from Stellafane Domed Observatory 1 A view through the woods.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Scenes from Stellafane Domed Observatory 2 A view coming out of the woods.	2009-2009 Stellafane Mirror Class Session 2 held on 2008-Nov-22 Scenes from Stellafane Domed Observatory 3 A view from behind the stone wall.