Thread: Mirrors
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Old 14-03-2014, 09:15 PM
JJDOBBER79 (Jas)
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JJDOBBER79 is offline
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Perth, WA
Posts: 258
Mirrors

Hi diy enthusiasts.
Please indulge me in a radical idea I have had. The high cost of a telescope mirror is due to the large chunk of glass. Why do we use glass for this? Is it because it can be highly polished. I am uneducated in this field so bear with me. Has anyone ever tried aluminizing a different material. Steel can be highly polished as can aluminium. And lightweight. And durable. What about a smooth plastic. Perhaps from a 3d printer? Shaping a steel or aluminium blank could be done on a lathe in no time. Polishing can also be done on a lathe.
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