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Well explained Ron

I have been making a solution of cerium oxide up the day before using. I've been using in the proportions of half a teaspoon to about 300ml of water. It looks like milk to be fair but you can vary this to what you need. Thicker slurry works faster, thinner is more for polishing. I'm working by hand so don't get to the squealing stage

Small update After an hours polishing the table is working lovely and the drainage system is a revelation. May be psychological but it feels that little bit different

Cheers Ron There isn't the other half to worry about as I live alone except when my daughters come to visit. So all clear I hope too you are right on the mirror behaving itself now we shall see I have this morning added a drain hole and length of tubing so that's all sorted Mentioning recutting the channels I have also done that too, cleaned the lap and inspected it before a bit of warming and now it's pressing ready for a couple of hours work. Results I shall post later as I have work this aft which will give the mirror chance to settle More bits for the scope build also arrived this am which was a surprise ;-) Damian

Just checked the table before turning in for an early start All is looking good and with the new batches of cerium polishing solution made battle will re commence in a few hours ;-)

Yes Derek behave or you'll be sentenced to 18 months mirror making!

Thanks RickWill be getting it's first run tomorrow. Wish I'd done it a while ago especially when I moved into the house. If it works well I shall be passing all the info on to Rich (crashtestdummy) to modify his table Hope the wrist is well on the mend now Damian

More whipping tomorrow Ooooops I mean working ;-)

No I'm not Derek, although I think I'm into self punishment doing this ha ha

Hi Ron I have been working in the kitchen as you quite rightly point out. The reason being that during the winter the pitch was just too cold to work right in the garage. I've just stayed in the kitchen ever since and there is also much less chance of contamination as my garage is quite a mess and needs a tidy out Damian

Ha Ha yeah I suppose it does

The silicone is going off so it's looking good but the rubber smell is not exactly the best thing in the world!

Afternoon all, Today's efforts have come together after a bit of digging around in the garage for materials. A previous project's left over's yielded some 1/8" (3.175mm) rubber sheet just big enough to cover the table top. So I removed all the clamps (or cleats) and with an 8mm hole punch marked out and cut 4 holes in the rubber for the bolt's to go back through.I also removed the excess wood on the clamps (cleats) so that the slurry could flow around the back. Once it was bolted back down I trimmed it with a Stanley Knife I then went low tech low cost approach and just run some packing tape around the edge leaving approx 8-10mm above which I ran a wedge of silicone up against on top of the rubber. Fingers crossed tomorrow morning I will have the first polishing session once the silicone has gone off, and determine then where as Derek suggested I can put the drain hole . Hopefully things will be a lot less messy Damian

I think I may have some somewhere

The grinder I may have to give a miss as tIe risk of contamination with the grinding disk is there although small. I've had a thought about facing the flag with something like a sheet of pvc or rubber? something similar must be 600mm2 or bigger I could just run a bead of silicone around the outside then? Less chance of picking up something off the flag when moving the mirror to clean.

Cheers for the questions Nick and no question is daft as it maybe something obvious I've overlooked At this stage there is no difference in temperature to the touch but it will have raised slightly after polishing. If you handle the mirror, then where your hands have been it will expand causing high spot problems when you polish, and I'm sure some Texereau Know it all will be along soon to point it out! It's one thing I wanted to eliminate before progressing further but there is a piece of anti fatigue matting between the mirror and table so it would in fact thermally insulate it from the table surface. You can see the matt in the back ground against the radiator

I'd thought of something similar Derek with the bonding although it was going to be silicone as I had it in stock drilling the flag again to allow the slurry drainage was another thought (great minds and all that). Plastic would be better as metal anywhere near the glass at this stage fills me with dread. Upvc with a stanley is probably an option and I've just remembered I've got some square drain pipe somewhere

Evening viewers Work has been at a stop for the last couple of days due to the unfortunate interference of my job Today I managed to get back to it though and decided to change something I've not been happy with for a while and that is the work table I use. The top is made out of a piece of kitchen worktop and is what I've been using from day #1 to grind then polish on. Anyway this was looking rather worse for wear and with all the best intentions about sealing it the chip board had swollen especially where the three clamps were mounted through to stop movement of the mirror. I had a thought about this and decided that I would find a 600mm2 flat flag stone from the local DIY store and change it for that. So I scoured the rack and came up with one Once home it was out with the toys to do a bit of modding. I drilled it through in 6 places then countersunk the screws. I sealed these with silicone. I then grabbed a bit of american hard maple from a previous project and made some new clamps mounting these with M6 countersunk bolts right through the flag. Because of the shape of the flag I put 4 stop blocks/clamps on which actually give a loose fit so not to pinch the mirror. To finish off I then rounded the corners of the flag with a diamond disc. All in an hour. Once the piece of foam matt is back on it's ready to polish again although I may add some form of channel around the side to stop all the slurry running everywhere as it did with the old one. I'm still thinking on this though?. Damian

After a bit of downtime I have nore work today and maybe an update later on progress. Damian

Cheers Ron I'll hold you to the Jaffa's Damian

And to also add John the history lesson is free too so the £4000 goes a long way I don't mind interruptions so carry on guys it breaks up what has turned into an edge rectifying thread Damian

Thank you Ron, a very encouraging comment and thank fully he got it finished using the ultimate star test. Bet he was as happy as I'll be once I get my shaving mirror complete You could also have a few wets if you could wrestle the lap away from me although I think after 5 mins we'd be having a cup of tea and you'd be reminiscing about your own mirror making exploits and acquaintances. I've done three hours today and maybe a little change to the edge Inside ROC Outside ROC Not much to report and the battle continue's maybe tomorrow. A well deserved beer now and some relaxing to think of strategies for tomorrow Keep watching Damian

Not as much as some do Ron, but at least it's helpful digression

Wondered what all those beers and clouds we've shared were all about