[ATM] Anything constructive?

["Cary Chleborad" <Cary@Chleborads.com>]

Hey folks... anything constructive going on in ATM land?

I monitor the list to see new and exciting things and to occasionally lend
my expertise to someone in need.  I see none of this going on.  Instead I'm
witnessing useless drivel (sp?):

Discussions of how the Hubble Mirrors were screwed. The ironic thing is that
most of the people professing their knowledge over this have never even seen
a set of R-C optics let alone fabricate them.

Wars over to glue or not to glue and how one must construct their mirror
cell.

Insinuations that ones level of desire to construct a certain type of scope
is somehow less than desirable or another's accomplishment is somehow
unworthy.

I've built 1/2 million dollar telescopes that have taken thousands of man
hours to construct, worked on them till my fingers bled, then wrote software
and debugged it until my eyes bled.  Then worked on tuning and refining the
scope from dusk till dawn for months on end 7 days a week.  It was actually
quite shocking to watch a star set in the early evening and then watch it
rise just before sunrise (in the winter).  I then lived away from home
installing, tuning and integrating the complete observatory system for
several months.

The telescope is an amazing feat of modern technology, works completely
unattended and images upwards of 1000 frames a night and easily tracks
unguided for over an hour.

I've also helped a fatherless 12 year old boy construct a 6 inch "dobbie"
from cardboard, cheap plywood, spray paint and silicone glue.  It took us
two years of working on it but HE did the work.  The scope even works, but
one could easily tear its technical merit apart when compared to virtually
any other telescope that is built by the hand of a more experienced
craftsman.  By many standards the scope sucks, but I taught a 12 year old
boy how to do something he may have never had the chance to learn otherwise.
I also taught him how to work with paint and paint finishing techniques for
cardboard tubes, woodwork, how to use a nail gun and glue and how to use a
drill.  I taught him for the first time how to plan and execute a complex
project, he learned that "doing things" are mostly planning, prep work and
patience.  Valuable life skills...

BOTH projects are equally valid and both stand on their own.  One not need
tear the other down in order to be valid.


I'd like see more propping up of each other, share what you know especially
when it is based upon experience instead of what you have read on someone
else's web page.... but do it with humility....


*****

Now.... anyone ever play with the flex mirrors?  I've always thought that a
vacuum pulled mirror supported at the 100% radius would be pretty cool.  If
you used a hand vacuum pump you could tune the mirror with a ronchi
eyepiece.  Swing to a bright star, pop in ronchi, pump until the lines are
straight and close the petcock.  Mirror tuned for the evening....

-Cary

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