Re: [ATM] Silvering telescope mirror's

[GARY FUCHS <gary@rcn.com>]

Hello,

I've read about silvering and located the *chemicals, but haven't been able to deduce, for a given size of glass, what's consumed, and which, if any, can be reused, and if so, how many times - so haven't been able to calculate cost. Could anyone who's done this fill in some of these blanks?

Thank you,

Gary Fuchs

*I recall that the silver nitrate comes in various ways and varying prices - what's the correct one, or can any be used?


---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:26:32 +0100 (MET)
>From: Dominic-Luc Webb <dlwebb@canit.se>  
>Subject: Re: [ATM] Silvering telescope mirror's  
>To: ATM Superheros <atm@atmlist.net>
>
>On Mon, 21 Jan 2008, Russell Jocoy wrote:
>
>>    James Learch will guide you through this process on his website.
>> But James' has no silvered mirrors..If you go further into his process
>> of "madness" you will realize that he worked through the historic
>> process into the future..."ALUMINIZING" ...Silver is great for coins...
>
>Essentially my view. There is some fun inorganic chemistry here,
>but everyone went with aluminizing because it is simply a lot
>more practical. Silver is slightly more reflective, but this is
>hardly a reason to choose this material.
>
>There is some rationale however to consider silver coatings, for
>a select few people. It will introduce you to alternative coatings
>that can reflect considerably better at some wavelengths outside
>the visible where aluminum is a poor choice. I dare not predict
>the future, but would not be surprised to see future amateur
>astronomers getting into a lot more wavelengths than just
>visible.
>
>Dominic
>
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