Stathis Kafalis's 32 inch mirror.

[marcopolo]

Has anyone heard from Stathis Kafalis on his 32in ultrathin mirror? His website stops at the figuring stage years ago, mentions nothing of a scope and he's not replied to e-mails I sent.

Anyone have any news on it? Or knows someone thats spoken with him?

thanks,

Marco.

[bluemarkus]

i was walking down the street today and thinking about the huge dobs people build themselves nowadays. weve seen 20s, weve seen 24s, now even 26 and 28s. and bigger. then i said to myself, one day we will hve 40inch dobs in amateur astronomy. thats 1 m of primary mirror.

[ixalon]

They exist already, as do 50 inchers(!) - never seen one in person, there can't be many about!

[Glasspusher]

Shame Stathis did not complete his website, are you think of trying something big, or are you just curious about his methods? Stathis used a monolithic blank, I think the way forward for the big fellas is with lightweight mirror technology. This is something I have been researching a lot recently.

John

[Peter Drew]

I have a preworked 42.5" mirror blank, just needs fine grinding, polishing and figuring. Anyone interested in finishing it?

[Glasspusher]

Peter, can't say that I am not tempted.............maybe one day if you don't get any takers.

John

[Gina]

I'd need to convert our big barn into an obsy to make room for a scope made with that in. And my OH wouldn't stand for that He only just tolerates the shed obsy.

[marcopolo]

No, i'm not that crazy!!. I just Love Stathis's design method in his 24in scope and was curious to see what ideas he came up with that I could use them on my 20in Dob i'm building.....I have a mirror and no structure just now!

My 12in mirror gets first atention though so i'm building that just now and again I wanted to get some insiration from his designs.

Marco.

[West End Wendy]

Excuse the ignorant question, but how do you get your eye anywhere near the eyepiece on a dob that size?

Looks like you'd need a fork lift truck.

Tim

[Peter Drew]

That's one of the downsides to big Dobs, others are Huge obsys, they don't like wind, re-aluminising hassles and cost.

[JamesF]

Excuse the ignorant question, but how do you get your eye anywhere near the eyepiece on a dob that size?

Usually, use a ladder. If you ask google I'm sure it will find lots of photos of people doing just that.

Doubtless there must be ways to arrange things such that you don't risk breaking your neck every time you want to use it, but I can't immediately think of any, unless you only use it for imaging.

James

[Merlin66]

A cherrypicker, hydraulic work platform would be the way to go!!

[Gina]

Definitely!