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Could a complete amateur learn how to make a cheap DIY telescope lens in their own garage?

jiggawatts 4y ago
Yes! While I haven’t done so myself, I looked into home-made telescopes as a way of getting much larger apertures on a budget. There is a whole group of hobbyists making primary mirrors up 80cm diameter for an order of magnitude lower cost than any off-the-shelf telescope with the same dimensions. Of course this takes hundreds of hours of work (fun!) and weeks of waiting while the glass is sent off to be mirror coated.
analog31 4y ago
Definitely. People have made DIY scopes for at least a century. There's still a lot of old literature around. Among optical systems, a basic telescope is one of the least complex.
mastax 4y ago
Check out Huygens Optics on YouTube. Lots of practical advise and tutorials.
aj7 4y ago
Yes there are many books. It’s the motivation.
- world2vec 4y ago
  Could you recommend one?
  - aj7 4y ago
    Google “amateur telescope making.” There are a hundred books.
joshvm 4y ago
I'm not sure if it will necessarily be cheap, maybe cheaper than an off the shelf mirror of equivalent size. This is what John Dobson (of the Dobsonian) is famous for. However you still need to do stuff like coat the primary mirror once it's polished and you can't easily do that at home. See https://youtu.be/snz7JJlSZvw https://youtu.be/snz7JJlSZvw
- chantepierre 4y ago
  Silvering mirrors is coming back in fashion, either with the old recipe à la Jean Texereau / How to make a telescope, or with a spray silvering process. This week I silvered my last mirror with spray silvering, which was quite economical and convenient. I used 1.6g of silver nitrate for a 200mm mirror.
poulpy123 4y ago
If by chance you read french, there is the reference for french amateur telescope builders here http://www.astrosurf.com/texereau/ http://www.astrosurf.com/texereau/
dekhn 4y ago
yes: a simple scope is really just two lenses in the right positions with some wrapping around it. I sat around with lenses of known focal lengths, the wikipedia page for keplerian telescope, and just sort of 3d printed enclosures until everything was the right distance from each other.

Yes! While I haven’t done so myself, I looked into home-made telescopes as a way of getting much larger apertures on a budget. There is a whole group of hobbyists making primary mirrors up 80cm diameter for an order of magnitude lower cost than any off-the-shelf telescope with the same dimensions. Of course this takes hundreds of hours of work (fun!) and weeks of waiting while the glass is sent off to be mirror coated.

analog31 4y ago

Definitely. People have made DIY scopes for at least a century. There's still a lot of old literature around. Among optical systems, a basic telescope is one of the least complex.

mastax 4y ago

Check out Huygens Optics on YouTube. Lots of practical advise and tutorials.

aj7 4y ago

Yes there are many books. It’s the motivation.

world2vec 4y ago
Could you recommend one?
- aj7 4y ago
  Google “amateur telescope making.” There are a hundred books.

joshvm 4y ago

I'm not sure if it will necessarily be cheap, maybe cheaper than an off the shelf mirror of equivalent size. This is what John Dobson (of the Dobsonian) is famous for. However you still need to do stuff like coat the primary mirror once it's polished and you can't easily do that at home. See https://youtu.be/snz7JJlSZvw https://youtu.be/snz7JJlSZvw

chantepierre 4y ago
Silvering mirrors is coming back in fashion, either with the old recipe à la Jean Texereau / How to make a telescope, or with a spray silvering process. This week I silvered my last mirror with spray silvering, which was quite economical and convenient. I used 1.6g of silver nitrate for a 200mm mirror.

poulpy123 4y ago

If by chance you read french, there is the reference for french amateur telescope builders here http://www.astrosurf.com/texereau/ http://www.astrosurf.com/texereau/

dekhn 4y ago

yes: a simple scope is really just two lenses in the right positions with some wrapping around it. I sat around with lenses of known focal lengths, the wikipedia page for keplerian telescope, and just sort of 3d printed enclosures until everything was the right distance from each other.