2001 Telescope Optics Workshop 16 Inch Mirror Grinding Class Bellingham Washington, Mel Bartels, Instructor

Bellingham Washington March 2001

16 inch mirror figuring class



A half dozen brave souls chanced the waters to figure 16 inch f/6 paraboloids. We had Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning. One finished and four were close. One attendee choose an unusual method which did not work well. At the end he was catching up nicely.

Starting with nicely polished blanks from Carl Zambuto, the majority choose to use subdiameter tools. This proved to be a methodical controlled approach, with the students gradually approaching full parabolization. Most testing was done with the comparative Ronchi, with final testing done with zonal measurements courtesy Carl Zambuto. We experimented with star testing via artificial star.

Testing tunnel

Ronchi testing

Artificial star testing

Artificial star testing setup



a student's notes: