Re: [ATM] Is ATMing really disappearing?

["lance clarke" <alaskawolfjoe@hotmail.com>]

I don't think that ATMing is disappearing, but it is significantly 
transformed from decades ago.  Up to the 70's most people made telescopes 
because they couldn't afford to buy them. Most of these were 6" or 8" 
mirrors, and my guess is that more often than not, when the scope was 
finished, they wouldn't make a second.
Today's ATM often has different motivations.  There certainly isn't a 
monetary saving to make a 6" or 8" telescope.  Rather, the motivation is to 
customize, experiment, or just for the joy of working by hand to an 
unbelievable precision.  Just try to buy a Yolo or Schupmann.

Certainly the profile of the hobby has fallen.  Most issues of Sky & 
Telescope don't have any articles related to ATMs (I pine for the "Gleaning 
for ATMs" column of a couple decades ago).  Telescope stores, at least in 
Toronto, don't carry any mirror grinding supplies.  The internet makes it 
easier than ever to get a wide variety of supplies, but it often comes as a 
surprise to people that they could actually make a telescope!
In a nutshell, my impression is that overall our numbers are down, but today 
there is a larger percentage of advanced ATMs who are driving the progress 
of telescope making faster than ever.

Lance Clarke
Toronto

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