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.
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.
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Paul tuning up the Meade 16 inch focuser 2014-08-27 |
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| Paul really got into this project. He stopped the trunnions from slipping on the tube and fixed the focuser. Clearwater Fundamental Middle School has a monster telescope ready for the sky now. |
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George Fatolitis cleaning 16 inch Meade mirror 2014-08-27 |
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| George brought in a Meade 16inch Dobsonian telescope from Clearwater Fundamental Middle School. The mirror was coated with dust and the mechanics of the telescope need a bit of work. After a couple hours of work it all came together and George left with a beautiful telescope for sharing he night sky with the kids. |
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Ralph, Tom and Mike polishing mirrors 2014-08-27 |
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| We had three polishers (two figuring), two grinders and repaired a 16inch Meade Dob for a local Middle School this week. It was busy at the Mirror lab! |
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Brad finishes his 8 inch mirror! 2014-07-06 |
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| Brad finished his 8 inch mirror Saturday. It is extremely well polished and has a one seventh wave figure with beautiful edge. Congratulations Brad! |
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Eighty-five pound pitch lap press 2014-07-06 |
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| Sometimes the pitch lap needs a little help getting back into a shape that matches the mirror. The mesh makes nice micro channels. After removing the weights and mesh we usually press again for a few minutes flatten out any pitch lifting caused by removing the mesh. We also like to keep the polishing room between 80 and 82 degrees F. |
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Tom nears final figuring 2014-07-05 |
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| Tom is in the final stages of polishing. His 8 inch mirror has a slight (~200nm) turned down edge and mirror on top with a short center over center stroke will correct that quickly. |
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Mike with his 12.5 inch light weight mirror 2014-07-05 |
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| This shows the light weight 12.5 inch mirror batter. Mike cast the mirror and has been perfecting the honey comb pattern. |
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Mike polishing a 12.5 inch wih a light weight sub-diameter tool 2014-07-05 |
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| The light weight tool is needed to prevent uneven polishing where the glass is hollowed out on the back and the surface is thinner. |
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Zerodur mirror finished for a lab scope 2014-04-28 |
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| Ralph (left) and Allen finished a 12 inch Zerodur mirror. This f4.4 mirror will stay with us at the lab as a demo scope and for public viewing nights. It came in at 1/7th wave and is very smooth and well polished. |
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Two polishers 2014-04-18 |
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| Brad Lytle (left), Mike Davis (right) polish their mirrors and John ONeill visits the lab. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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