RE: ATM Beginner's questions

["CSC" <optic@gwi.net>]

6" kit?  Great sized scope.  I recommend you get new grit if there's any
suspicion that the old cans are rusty.

The pitch might need some turpentine to soften the melt, but use the turps
sparingly.

Whenever you put a mirror back on the tool with a fresh charge of grit,
always lift up on it a bit during the first few slow strokes to make sure
that if there is a large grain of grit, it gets shattered before much
pressure gets applied.  If you hear a crunch, rinse off and go again.

I always do this when working by hand, and I rarely have had a big digger of
a scratch.

F/8 or higher?  I recommend it.

Colin



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-atm@shore.net [mailto:owner-atm@shore.net]On Behalf Of James
Peercy
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2003 7:28 PM
To: atm@shore.net
Subject: ATM Beginner's questions



Hello all,

I found this mail list while searching the web for
information about grinding a mirror. I bought a 6 in
mirror kit years ago from Edmund Scientific, but then
my teenage years happened and it was stored at my
grandmother's house for about 25 years. Well I have it
back now and I am going to grind this mirror.

I've searched some ATM web pages, but I have a couple
of rookie questions I can't find answers to, so please
bear with me.

1) Are the grits and all still good after 25 years?
I'm guessing they are, but the pitch probably isn't.

2) Later in rough grinding, I understand that you use
a stroke that is like VV, in other words you make some
side to side movement too. What about at the beginning
of rough grinding? If I am understanding what I'm
reading, you offset the mirror by close to one half of
the diameter and go back and forth with the center of
the mirror close to the edge of the tool? Is there any
movement sideways or is it straight back and forth?

I'm sorry these are such "rookie" questions, but I'm
not quite sure how to start and I don't want to mess
it up.

James

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