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.
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Richard's BVC Mirror
2019-03-17
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Richard, Brad and Ralph inspecting Richard's BVC mirror. It needed a little work getting the curve all the way out to the edge which was resolved the following week. |
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Soldering and Grinding
2019-03-17
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Steve and Paul (l to r foreground) are soldering a dew heater controller. Brad and Ron are working on Brad's 14 inch mirror. |
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Bill and Ralph Cut A Tube
2019-03-09
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Bill (left) and Ralph cut a 12 foot long 12 inch tube to a more appropriate length for Bill's 10 inch f/5 mirror. |
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Brad's Finished Telescope at the OBS
2019-02-16
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Brad finished remaking his telescope in time for the 2019 Orange Blossom Special (OBS) Star Party |
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Mike's Mirror Grinding Demo
2019-02-16
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Mike shared his mirror grinding skills during a demo at the 2019 Orange Blossom Special Star Party. |
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Ralph's 12 inch Dob at the OBS Telescope Walkabout
2019-02-16
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Ralph finished his 12 inch Dob just before the OBS star party. Here he is explaining its construction during the telescope walkabout. |
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Dew Heater Controllers
2019-01-14
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Mike (left) and Dave (right) are building a couple of dew heater controllers. Brad (center) already built one and is assisting the projects. |
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Ralphs' Secondary holder
2019-01-14
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Ralph built in some resistors for dew control on his secondary holder. |
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Mike's slumped 16
2019-01-14
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Mile slumped a 16 inch blank and brought it to the lab the same day that it came out of the kiln. This is a beautiful piece of glass just under an inch thick. |
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Allen's 16 inch Mini Maxx telecope
2019-01-14
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The 16 inch Mini Maxx f/4.66 telescope had first light on January 7th. It's similar in design to the 18 inch Maxx scope but considerably lighter. |
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