Dusting off some old equipment…

If I am going to get going on this mirror again, I need to dust off and/or build some new test equipment. I never really did make an adequate Foucault/Ronchi tester, preferring to do all my testing at the workshop, but frankly, that seems a cowardly on my part. I suppose I’ll have to figure dummy one up. At it’s simplest, I really just need a light source (an LED, most likely dimmable) and a Ronchi grating. I also like the idea of setting up a small laser to serve as an alignment guide. That will probably be good enough to get started.

Then, I need to make some pitch laps. I think a full sized lap is probably a good idea, but I may want to make a smaller (8″ or even 6″) lap for figuring. I was getting pretty good at working subdiameter laps before I stopped, but I imagine I can get back to it quickly with a little project.

But one bit of old equipment that I have extracted from my garage is my mirror stand. Here it is with my 12.5″ mirror in place:

IMG_0198

Tomorrow I’ll spend some more time doing inventory on the parts and equipment I have. And maybe take the time to jury rig some Ronchi gratings.