Re: ATM pitch mold, opinions needed

[tkrajci@san.osd.mil]

>I would back up what Tom recommends:  only trust what you read in 
published
>books; advice you get on the ATM list is only correct to the extent that 
it
>agrees with books.  Remember that older books have withstood the test of
>time.   

I repeat my previous post:  “...books are usually reviewed for content and 
accuracy...”  Note the use of the word ‘usually.’  Yes, there are errors 
in ATM books.  However I often find a higher S/N ratio in books than I do 
in email forums.

>The years of the great depression of the 1930's were a golden age
>for telescope making.  That was when they discovered the correct way to do
>everything.

Now that I am translating Dmitri Maksutov's first book...which came out in 
the 1940's if I remember right (and his earliest published works date to 
the mid 1920’s)...there are some good ideas covered that I do not see 
discussed in contemporary English speaking ATM circles.  They have impact 
on how one would set goals for, and design a telescope for a given task.  
I’ve only read about 80 of 400 pages, but his approach as a disciplined 
scientist, engineer, designer, and optician merits careful study for the 
interested amateur.  It’s too bad this book was never translated before.  
I feel humbled at what Maksutov did with a pencil, slide rule, and log 
tables in his calculations and analysis of diffraction patterns/effects 
for various cases.

>P.S. Good luck with home foundary and machine shop you will require!   In
>the 1930's, every farm boy had one so he could make horse shoes.

Each age and technology and economy requires different skills.  The 
Russian ATM book by Sikoruk that I am translating gives me insight into 
a ‘typical Russian’ ATM approach...where they have less in terms of 
material wealth to dedicate to a project...but perhaps a better 
theoretical underpinning and approach.  I may be a cheapskate that uses 
duct tape in ATM projects...but I still continue to study and learn from 
various sources for ATMing.  When I was back in the US for the 
holidays...in the land of the internet superhighway...I was able to find 
and study several papers on mirror support from the professional 
community.  I’ve got some more ideas that need testing to see how well 
they apply to the cheapskate ATM approach.  (Actuators and other active 
support schemes are too expensive and complex for me...I’m trying to find 
passive methods that ‘scale well’ for the ATM.)

Sadly, with many folks in ATM email forums the approach can often be 
characterized as post-literate...or “I can read books, but thank goodness 
I don’t have to!”  It seems that ATM email forums, where few folks direct 
newbies to archives, published/reviewed works, etc...seem to promote 
an ‘oral tradition’ kind of virtual society.  That may have been useful 
centuries ago before the advent of books, but in an email forum...with 
a ‘revolving door’ membership...the oral tradition practice means that the 
collective memory of the list suffers severely from Alzhemier’s.  I wish 
it were otherwise.

Tom Krajci
Tashkent, Uzbekistan