[ATM] First optical components coated in new 25" box coater :)

[jlerch1 at tampabay.rr.com (James Lerch)]

Greetings All,

Well it took nearly 6 months to fabricate, nearly 160 hours of labor, and cost a
little over $250 (not including pumping station) but the new vacuum chamber
coated its first optics today :)))

Here's a link to some images:
http://lerch.no-ip.com/atm/Projects/Chamber/First_Coating/page_01.htm

Ron Jones (in the green shirt) is the owner of the 22" optic being coated, and a
major force in getting the chamber up and running.  (And yes, that is a 3/4"
thick optic!)

Everything worked pretty much as planned, however I do need to give some serious
attention to fabricating proper optical mounting (The images show are ad-hock
implementation).

I also made an upgrade to the pumping station, adding a second rough pump in
parallel to the first one.  The addition of the second rough pump cut the cycle
time from 1 1/2 hours down to a little over 25 minutes!

All in all, it was a GREAT DAY :)

Take Care,
James Lerch
http://lerch.no-ip.com/atm (My telescope construction,testing, and coating site)

"Anything that can happen, will happen" -Stephen Pollock from:
"Particle Physics for Non-Physicists: A Tour of the Microcosmos"

" Press on: nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. "
                                                           Calvin Coolidge