Hi all,
Well my 8" glass blank has finally arrived with a bunch of grinding/polishing powders as well. It's a Schott Borosilicate glass blank from Germany and the grinding material set
includes silicon carbide grit #80, #180, #320, Aluminum oxyde with specific flat gritshape and tight size distribution Microgrit WCA 25my, 15my, 9my, 5 my, 3 my, polishing powder CER-SKX (a very fine and pure cerium oxide) and optical pitch of 28° hardness.
Which no doubt I'm going to have to container up and label correctly as soon as possible.
This is going to be my first attempt at making a mirror so hopefully I can use this thread as not only a log of what I have done but to seek advice when needed.
I have decided on making a plaster tool and already have the plaster but finding the tiles is proving harder than I would like/make it out to be but I come across some one way or another. I still have a couple of books I'd like to read too and have been recommended books by Howard or Texereau so I will read both. Online stellafane has lots of information too and of course the very knowledgable IIS members.
I don't want to rush things so will have plenty of time but I am keen to get underway, I can at least make the plaster disc for now but I still have plenty of other things to get in order, like as mentioned above the tiles and I need to pick some epoxy up as well.
Infact if I think about it there quite a few things....
- Decide on the f ratio - rather important really and seeing as I was planning on using the time making a mirror to come up with a plan for making a dob this is the first major decision in that department too.
- Create some space to do this in - We have a pretty good enclosed room that nobody goes into with a stable temperature which I can use but it's full of junk and would take a big cleaning effort so I need to get that in order. I can always do the rough grinding in the garage or somewhere else maybe?
- Source a grinding table - I'm thinking a big 44-50 gallon drum that I can fill with water or even a wine barrell but it's likely I'll end up with something more mundane. Maybe a rotating bench.
- Make the tool and find the last few things I need to make the tool.
- Pick up a couple of minor things like metal rulers and the like.
- Read up a bit more to give me a final confidence boost.
Not that much really, I have probably forgotten a few things but I'll be able to get some things happening soon.
Anyway thanks for reading and I hope to add more as I go along.