Re: [ATM] Contaminated Cerium Oxide

[Michael Lindner <mikell@optonline.net>]

On Sat August 20 2005 6:00 am, Mahmood Hassan wrote:
> ...I have tried to refine this  by  water suspension method, but the results 
are
> not good.

Mahmood,

These may be silly questions, but are you using a pitch lap with the cerium, 
rather than a hard tool? You can't polish with something hard. Also, is the 
cerium is being applied alreay suspended in water? Unlike grit you don't 
apply cerium dry and add water on the glass.

> I will try to find some Red Rouge from ???

You could try a machine shop or auto shop - rouge is used to lap metal 
surfaces. I know at least one person here in the US who polished his mirror 
with polish from a rock tumbling kit. You could also inquire about polishing 
compounds from a place that makes tombstones or stone countertops. Or perhaps 
Ken can throw some good cerox into the care package, if it would make it 
there intact.

> Is it ok to build a Truss 
> Tube Dob for my 6-inch f10 mirror?

It's OK, but more work than you need to do. At that size it is relatively easy 
to find an 8" concrete form tube if there's any place that does construction, 
or an 8" pipe of some sort. If that's unavailable, you can simply build a 
square tube out of 1/4" plywood glued or nailed to long strips of wood at the 
corners (as described in Richard Berry's book "Build Your Own Telescope"). It 
will be simpler to use a tube than to make connectors and get all the angles 
right, easier to mount and just as light. Plus you don't have to worry about 
baffling against light coming in from the sides.

If you're intent on not using a tube, check our Ron Ravneberg's "alice" 
telescope design at http://www.atmsite.org/contrib/Ravneberg/alice (although 
the site seems to be down right now). 

Clear skies
-- 
Michael Lindner
http://www.starastronomy.org *** http://home.att.net/~mikel
http://www.atmsite.org *** http://www.atmlist.net
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