Books on mirror making

[earth titan]

Any good ones?

Looking to make an f8 8" planetary scope, about 1/4 wave.

Might take me a long time, but I am time rich and cash poor.

Thanks.

[FraserClarke]

Lots. Do a search of amazon for "amateur telescope making".

key bible is probably Jean Texereau. It's a bit old fashioned in places, but very solid, particularly in it's grounding of why things do what they do.

Also a heck of a lot of information on the interweb. Check out; Stellafane: Telescope Making for a pretty complete guide for starters.

[barkis]

I have Handbook for Telescope Making by NE Howard.

It served me well over the years, then I bought Jean Texereau,s book, which is a more detailed one.

I have just had the Howard book returned to me after being out on loan to a friend. If you would like to borrow it, PM me your address, and I will post it to you.

The book has all the information and instruction to make your 8" mirror.

Ron.

[LeoLion]

I would add another title to Texerau " A Manual for AmateurTelescope Makers" by Karine and Jean-Marc Lecleire ( and with a foreword by Jean Texerau . Here is a link to the English version A Manual for Amateur Telescope Makers with Detailed Plans to Construct Three Different Telescopes by Karine and Jean-Marc Lecleire. . It does reflect the French 'style' of telescope somewhat ( but that is not a bad thing ).

I only have the French version of this book ( bought on my return to the UK after having discovered it in the library of a Catalan astronomical society in Catalonia , Spain ).

It is the most recent book on mirror techniques that I am aware of ( rather than books on 'telescope construction' ). Hope this is a help.

[BinocularSky]

For your first mirror, use Howard. It holds your hand you through the process. Just two things to be aware of (2nd Edition):

• False assumption corrected in footnote on p98, but left uncorrected in text.
  
• The graph on p127 is wrong; the data-table from which the graph is derived is correct, but the graph is exactly wrong. Probably best to ignore it altogether and derive your tolerance envelope by the Millies-Lacroix data reduction. There's a spreadsheet I wrote for this a while back here.
  

Also be sure to visit and peruse The ATM Site.

If you get the bug then Texereau is a must.

[earth titan]

Thank you for the very kind offer of the loan, but I would be taking the proverbial if I took you up on the very kind offer as I intend to keep it for a long, long time.

Just purchased a used copy from Amazon for a fiver, so to quote Alan Partridge - 'Back of the net...........':D I'll get my coat..

[earth titan]

Hey hey it arrived (Telescope Making by NE Howard).

Now if only it would cloud over, I could sit and read it..... (toungue firmly in cheek).