Saint Petersburg Astronomy Club - Mirror Lab

Location

We are looking for a new home
As soon as we have the new location set we will post the location and hours here.

Our Founder

Paul McNabb founded the mirror lab in 1997 in order to create the best amateur telecopes possible. Inch for inch our mirrors surpass store bought or commercial grade scopes.

04/12/2012 more

Members

  • Ralph Craig - Lab Instructor
  • Allen Maroney - Lab Instructor
  • Ron Jones - The Figurer
  • Mike Davis - Casts Mirrors
  • Dimitri - Support

Friends

  • James Lerch - Robo Foucault
  • Matt Terry
  • Charlie Mullen
  • Bruce Kazcmarik
  • Keevy McAlavy

In Memorium

  • Irv Nadelhaft
  • Lenny Remetta

04/12/2012 more

Welcome

Where the 19th Century Art of Mirror Making Meets the 21st Century

The Saint Petersburg Mirror Lab is a small band of dedicated mirror grinders and telescope makers living in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. We offer a mirror making class for interested persons. We strive to create the best mirrors our home brew technology can muster. This includes robotic foucault testing and laser interferometry.

  Brittany finished her 10 inch mirror
2013-06-15
Brittany finished her 10 inch f4.9 1/6th wave mirror today. It has a fantastic polish and edge.
Congratulations!

  Brittany and her dad polish mirrors
2013-06-02
Brittany and her father, Stan, were working on 10 inch mirrors this week. Brittany's f4.9 mirror is
fully polished and ready for figuring. Stan was visiting the lab for the first time and we put him
to work in a 10 inch f5 mirror that will be used to calibrate the robotic Foucault tester.

  EXTRA! EXTRA! Paul McNabb Finishes a mirror!
2013-04-20
The impossible has finally happened, Paul McNabb has finished a mirror. His 16 inch better than
1/4 wave f/4.76 mirror was finished on 4/20/2013, which also happens to be his birthday.
Congratulations and happy birthday Paul!

  The last round of figuring on Pauls 16 in
2013-04-20
Dennis Farr (with Pebbles), Paul McNabb and Ron Jones discuss the best stroke to finish Pauls
mirror. They were successful!

  Bill with his 10 inch mirror
2013-04-06
Bill is at 35 thousandths after his first day of edge beveling and grinding with 60 grit.

  Dave is back!
2013-04-06
Dave grinding 8in and Brittany grinding 10in

  Brittany with the spherometer
2013-04-06
Brittany checking her 10 inch mirror with the spherometer after 240 grit.

  Brittany beveling her new mirror
2013-02-04
Brittany beveling the edge of her new 10 inch blank to prevent edge chipping while grinding.

  Mike with students
2013-02-04
Mike Davis showing visiting students how mirrors are polished with a sub diameter tool.

  Paul figuring his thin 16 inch mirror
2012-12-03
Paul figuring his thin 16 inch mirror with a 5 inch tool. A center over center stroke is used to
parabolize the mirror. By keeping the mirror on the bottom it remains fully supported and flat.

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