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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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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