Re: [ATM] A Big Challange

[scott <srychnov@chem.ps.uci.edu>]

On Mar 8, 2005, at 12:10 AM, Jeremy Batterson wrote:
>
> Can you or anyone else, seriously figure out an insightful means to 
> produce a large mirror blank at a fraction of the cost of buying one 
> from Corning, etc. This can be:
>
>


Glass is quite cheap compared to most quality materials.  The problem 
with large blanks is that they use a lot of glass.  Make the mirror 
thin or make it with a cell structure and you use less glass, which 
makes it less expensive (except for the labor.)

Have you priced a 24" diameter by 2.5" thick piece of aluminum?  Aside 
from the fact that aluminum is not a good material for mirrors, those 
glass blanks start to look like a deal.

Composite mirrors are interesting.  Once again, the real savings may be 
in weight, rather than in cost per pound of mirror.

Scott

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