tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-222221002012-02-16T22:38:14.877-05:00This blog is mainly about Telescope making, and some things about my politics. At last we finally have a President that can say "Fool me once; shame on you. Fool me twice; shame on me." instead of mixing up with an old Who song.Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.comBlogger281100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-60837784933805863462010-01-23T16:43:00.005-05:002010-01-23T17:17:30.954-05:00

No blood letting yet.It was bloody cold in my shop today, but I got out there anyway. My nose was running and I dripped a little on the wood which swelled up. Yeah, I know... TMI. I have to get a heater out there that doesn't create CO and poison the air.I have had some really bad back problems lately and have been going to a physical therapist and its really helping. But I was standing too

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-33020290361318335982010-01-18T16:24:00.004-05:002010-01-18T16:53:36.597-05:00

Here are some more shots about what I have been doing lately with my telescope. Basically, I've decided to make the octagonal box that the mirror goes in first, and build everything else that goes around it based on that.This is the mirror cell on the bottom of what will be the octagonal box that the mirror will sit in. I've tried to show here in these pictures how the cell is very adjustable

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-44488335490569050332009-12-28T21:42:00.006-05:002009-12-29T00:11:16.106-05:00

Here is the mirror resting on the cell.A top view of it. The larger holes at the two ends of the bar that holds the rocker are for the top adjustment bolts. The single bottom adjustment bold is attached through the large hole centered on the back bar from underneath.Another shot of it showing the four mounting pads. The lower two are on the rocker bar so that the weight is evenly distributed

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-7304196354748404742009-12-24T15:44:00.004-05:002009-12-24T18:43:45.803-05:00

It's Christmas Eve, and ever since I found the Santa hat in our decorations the other day, I have been wearing it. It's been kind of cool lately and the new workshop needs to be a little warmer. It's all insulated, so when it gets warm, it stays that way. But I have to heat it with a little propane heater, and with no ventilation, I have to leave the door open a crack and pretend its not hurting

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-53810641801453400232009-11-26T14:43:00.003-05:002009-11-26T14:58:38.959-05:00

I've finally finished up most of what I need to do to my shed. I've torn down and replaced three walls, moved the rafters up a foot, put on a brand new door, insulated it and put 1/2" plywood throughout. White paint inside makes it a lot easier to see things. And oh yeah, I rewired it and put in lots of lighting. I can honestly say I've made a pretty good woodworking shop. It took me a year,

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-40052832497181455312009-05-14T22:09:00.008-04:002009-05-14T22:44:26.852-04:00

Long time coming with a new post.  Been busy with rebuilding my shed and outfitting it for woodworking.  But something really important came up Monday.My niece, Anne Genevieve (we call her Mita) graduated from her Ph.D. program at Emory University.  My brother Bob, me and my wife Susan were there as surrogates for her parents who couldn't make it up from Mexico.  Here is a video and some

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-17577883576454872242009-01-31T15:48:00.010-05:002009-01-31T21:14:35.889-05:00

Ok, so it kind of got cold this past fall and then Christmas and New Years and then all the other stuff, politics-wise. And I ran out of polish anyway (got some more now though). And a huge bill on my truck has pretty much left me in the design phase again.So I've promised myself and several friends, that I would be starting out with a Steam Punk telescope. Cherry, brass, inlay, carving, maybe

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-90164905269594320222008-10-16T23:22:00.003-04:002008-10-17T00:24:26.756-04:00

UG!I turned the edge of my mirror. I got over anxious and went too long and hard with parabolization. It gouged a hole in the middle and turned the edge. And while I made significant progress towards making the center and other zones pretty close to 1/4 wave P-V, I was never going to be able to fix that turned edge and keep the paraboloid.So I polished out the edge, center be damned. Now the

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-38862817485965618412008-09-01T17:46:00.005-04:002008-10-17T00:24:26.757-04:00

Back in an earlier post I was talking about the foucault tester I made. Well, I tested my mirror with it this weekend, and the little green LED was just not bright enough for my old eyes, so I got a big huge jumbo white 28 cp LED, and rewired it with a rheostat so I could control it. So much easier now, and I have some pictures. In fact, videos too.Say hello to my little movie.And this one too. I

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-43482111631014143122008-09-01T17:13:00.003-04:002008-10-17T00:24:26.757-04:00

August was cool. A few days got above 90 but mostly it was in the low 80's and even into the 70's I managed to finish up the fine grinding on my scope in the evenings, in one or two cases I was done with only an hours worth of work, but even still, I kept at it for at least 2 hours on each grit. I did this partly because I wanted to get the ROC as close to 137.5" as possible before going to

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-86985248496193941522008-09-01T12:45:00.003-04:002008-10-17T00:24:48.116-04:00

I said that this blog would be about politics and telescope making, but I haven't done much about the former. So, here goes.In the evening this past week, of course it was the Democratic Party National Convention on TV. We spent the final night down at the "Thinking Man's Tavern" with the Drinking Liberally crowd. It was an exceptional time and I am really motivated now to go out and campaign for

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-33298529844617060702008-09-01T10:46:00.003-04:002008-10-17T00:24:26.758-04:00

August was one of "those" months...whatever that means... Well I guess I could say, since this is a web log and all. It was a relatively cool month and everyone commented on it. I found myself having to defend against attacks on global warming theory, but as nice as it was I wasn't too convincing. Gas prices even went down, and I didn't take MARTA to work nearly as much as I had intended. The end

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-28974060234538562592008-07-26T22:08:00.002-04:002008-12-10T17:39:08.796-05:00

I made the new tool. and little did I know that I would run out of #80 grit. But not before I got the tiles on the new tool all in contact. Here are some pictures of the tool after I started grinding with it. They progress from "a lot in contact" to "almost all in contact". I the former, you can still see where some of the grit has attached itself to the wax leftovers. As it progresses, you

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-90481323332040644612008-07-20T15:11:00.002-04:002008-10-17T00:24:26.758-04:00

Sailors on tall ships had them while trimming sails. Old Irish women had them while weaving cloth. Field hands had them while picking crops. Chain gangs had them while tarring roads. Bakers had them while kneading bread. Hikers had them while on the trail. When I mow the lawn, I have several. There is even a modern one for computer programmers. "Working 40 hours on the Xerox line" by Stan

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-69518966677625326362008-07-19T11:08:00.006-04:002008-12-10T17:39:09.562-05:00

I might be movin' to Montana soonJust to raise me up a crop of Dental FlossRaisin' it upWaxen it downIn a little white boxI can sell uptown -Frank Zappa, MontanaSo I have the tool now, and I sealed it with some deck sealer I had around and let it dry. It says its for concrete, and it says you can clean it up with soap and water.right...I tried soap and water. The brush felt like I put rubber

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-78586390958143382102008-07-13T22:52:00.011-04:002008-12-10T17:39:13.321-05:00

I rewarded myself for having handily passed my first certification test by working out in my shed on my grinding tool today. Plenty more pictures. It rained like crazy today. Very odd for July in Georgia. On loud thunderbolt made the lights flicker and we lost a small branch out of one of our sweet gum trees. I normally collect rain water around here for garden irrigation (because of the 5 year

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-4238763316840872342008-07-03T17:25:00.003-04:002008-12-10T17:39:14.655-05:00

At 16 years of wedded bliss, I can say that I don't mind leftovers anymore. Susan is a really good cook, and its par for the course I guess.But when you take apart a lawn mower or a printer, or some other thing with screws, gaskets, washers, springs, levers and opto-interrupters (not that the lawnmower has that) and you start to put it back together again, I can't help but get two mutually

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-23460737752056225612008-06-29T19:05:00.017-04:002008-12-10T17:39:16.727-05:00

I've been trying not to spend so much time lately on telescope making, and for several very good reasons.My boss sent out an email and said I have to renew my Lotus Domino certifications by August 4 (a black day! its my one year anniversary of breaking my leg and foot!). And while its a little easier at work, gas is over $4.05 a gallon, and I have been taking MARTA to work most days which means

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-27902197537385385862008-05-31T10:00:00.000-04:002008-12-10T17:39:17.132-05:00

I haven't been grinding away at my mirror lately. The way I left it was that I had a form built to pour a tool, but I hadn't decided what to use for the medium. And then Memorial Day weekend intervened with a camp out in the mountains, and a new radiator for my truck, and a budget that tanked for the month. Oy. But I did manage to read up more on things I need to know and other things I don't

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-1135243225021934932008-05-11T20:44:00.000-04:002008-05-31T12:07:12.108-04:00

Yep, that's right, yesterday I turned 50. We had a party at our house. Those with kids brought them, and played badmitton (or something like it.) The rest of us had barbeque from a great barbeque/blues joint in Decatur called "Maddy's" -- real live hole in the wall with the best food and blues in the country. My brother and his wife, their son and his wife and kid, and my eldest neice and friends

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-64846879642984460612008-05-08T22:22:00.000-04:002008-05-31T12:07:12.109-04:00

Here is my log of activity lately with my mirror grinding progress. As I update it, this should change. I use google docs to do it, and then put it into an iFrame

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-44842857213284135682008-05-03T20:14:00.000-04:002008-05-31T12:07:12.109-04:00

I've always loved hardware stores from the time I was 8, going down to Katz's hardware store with my brother to get glass to replace windows he broke while throwing shoes at me. No ordinary glass, mind you. This was 250 year old hand blown glass in our 250 year old house in Connecticut. My mother was in tears every time one broke, poor old girl. But what did we know? Years later Mr. Katz

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-58639386473669659852008-04-29T21:22:00.000-04:002008-05-31T12:07:12.110-04:00

Some how, I managed to nick my pinky, and it blead all over the grit as I was grinding the back of my mirror. I was cool out there in the shed, and I was doing this in a sweater, but I don't think you can actually say there was sweat... or tears ... yet.Still grinding the back of the mirror. Went for two more 45 minute whets. That's about all I can do in an evening before its time to come in for

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-85305201580437244062008-04-28T23:48:00.000-04:002008-05-31T12:07:12.110-04:00

My order of grits came today, smothered with saran wrap and covered with starch peanuts. Thanks Tom!I pulled out the 120 grit and gave it about an hour and a half on the back of the mirror to smoothe it. Its going to need twice that before I'm happy with the results. Pictures soon.-Bill

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-48618466772245858832008-04-28T21:42:00.001-04:002008-12-10T17:39:19.470-05:00

As part of my new Telescope venture, I had to make a device to test it. The amazing thing is that this device, known a Foucault knife edge tester can measure the figure of a mirror to well within 1/10th of a wavelength of an average green colored light. One wavelength of green light is around 500 nanometers - that's 500 billionths of an inch or 0.0000005 inches, and this device made of wood and

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-76434905219107052322008-04-27T19:15:00.000-04:002008-12-10T17:39:20.152-05:00

Since the beginning of the year, I have embarked on a new venture. Actually its a revival of an old hobby of mine known as Amateur Telescope Making. So a lot of what this blog is going to be about is what I have been doing out in my barn with regard to that. A little background. In 1972 at 14, I got a kit to make a telescope, including the grinding and polishing of its objective, a 6 inch mirror.

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-1139633228214853722006-02-10T23:46:00.000-05:002006-02-10T23:48:12.550-05:00

You are a Social Liberal(83% permissive)and an... Economic Liberal(8% permissive)You are best described as a:SocialistLink: The Politics Test on Ok CupidAlso: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22222100.post-1139532295408854062006-02-09T19:43:00.000-05:002006-02-09T19:44:55.416-05:00

Just checking the ol' Pith Helmet...

Newport Babyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15036794401144082879noreply@blogger.com0