Quote:
Originally Posted by OzEclipse
In 1978 still at high school, a 6" reflector cost US650. Average adult weekly earnings in 1978 was about $200. My holiday jobs paid nowhere near this. So I bought an astro optics 6" mirror grinding kit for $25. Little did I know what I was letting myself in for. Two years and hundreds of hours later, I had a polished mirror and hand made telescope built through the fantastic mentoring of Cliff Duncan and the ATM club of Queensland.
After the mirror was ground, next came lap pitch and polishing powder.
Later, aluminium ingots, zinc ingots, brass rod and tube. The ATM club had a furnace and moulds for casting aluminium mounting and tube components and casting zinc counterweights. A trip to a binocular repairer and for $5 I acquired a pair of 7x 50mm binoculars with one broken lens. I removed one eyepiece and the remaining objective. With some PVC tube and cast aluminium brackets, it became a finderscope.
Joe
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We're so spoilt for cheap and good mass market scopes these days that ATM seems to be a bit of a lost art!