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Mackay is minnig supply town, I can get nitric acid and concentrated ammonia but only in 20 litre drums at about $200 each, but I only want a litre of each.
The silver nitrate is $60 for 25 grams, the source is in melbourne postage and packaging took it up to $75.
It costs me about $15 each time I recoat and the unprepared chemicals have a shelf life of many years. A new mirror for the 10" is about $350, but the scope has the old cardboard tube and a crap focuser, not worth fixing when a new dob is $650.
I picked up this old 8" dob at a garage sale on friday for $60. The primary mirror coating was completly gone, you could see the cell behind it. Resilvered it that arvo and was looking at the moon and saturn that evening. The mirror is an old full thickness one so might be worth getting the proper aluminium treatment.
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