What or should I say who is mirroroptics?
After receiving my 10" stock hardin mirror back from a vendor, I decided to have it professionally refigured. I wanted to try my own hand at refiguring it( I've previously made two mirrors) but a delay in receiving it from the vendor put the kabosh on that idea.
I did some searching on the web and happened upon a website that appeared to be a smaller version of the astromart, replete with forums, ads and so forth. I found an ad offering some very attractive rates on mirror refiguring so I decided to contact the vendor. It surprised me to find that the ad was placed by the highly regarded optician, Alan Raycraft. Some of you may recall Raycraft did the mirrors for the 7" starmasters when that model was in production.
He offered to test, refigure, recoat and re-ship my mirror to me for a very reasonable $285.00.
I was most impressed with him from the start as he responded very promptly to my initial e-mail and he wanted to know if my mirror had any chips or scratches because he didn't want anyone to think he does sloppy work by producing an optic with these kinds of problems.
I sent my mirror to him and he e-mailed me as soon as it was received and he noted the boxes were in good shape which is something I had to inquire about with another vendor versus the other way around.
I received the report on my mirror a few days later with a wavefront analysis showing the stock hardin mirror was undercorrected and it was a bit shy of the 1/4 wave raleigh limit at 1/3.85. I should note that I have another 10" mirror of the same manufacture(GSO) as the stock hardin mirror which tested at 1/6 wave and the latter held up better under high magnification on the planets after repeated testing in the field.
At any rate, Raycraft proceeded to refigure my mirror and after less than two weeks, I received an e-mail report with a wavefront profile and a millies-lacroix plot which are some of the types of data that Zambuto reportedly supplied with his mirrors.
My 10" mirror now sports 1/11.69 wavefront which correlates to a 1/22 wave surface.
Instead of utilizing the standard beral coat offered with the refiguring of the mirror, I opted to use the enhanced coating supplied my Nova Optical Systems which had recently did an excellent job of recoating my 16" mirror and secondary. The enhanced coating cost me an additional $65.00 but I feel it's worth it.
My mirror is presently headed for coating at Nova and I anticipate having it back in a week or so after it arrives.
It's been a pleasure dealing with Alan Raycraft. I feel he's a true craftsman who's proud of his work and he doesn't charge an arm and a leg to do it. He communicated with me every step of the way and provided his test results to backup the quality of his work. I think he's the best kept secret out there.
I look forward to using the mirror under the stars in the near future...
After receiving my 10" stock hardin mirror back from a vendor, I decided to have it professionally refigured. I wanted to try my own hand at refiguring it( I've previously made two mirrors) but a delay in receiving it from the vendor put the kabosh on that idea.
I did some searching on the web and happened upon a website that appeared to be a smaller version of the astromart, replete with forums, ads and so forth. I found an ad offering some very attractive rates on mirror refiguring so I decided to contact the vendor. It surprised me to find that the ad was placed by the highly regarded optician, Alan Raycraft. Some of you may recall Raycraft did the mirrors for the 7" starmasters when that model was in production.
He offered to test, refigure, recoat and re-ship my mirror to me for a very reasonable $285.00.
I was most impressed with him from the start as he responded very promptly to my initial e-mail and he wanted to know if my mirror had any chips or scratches because he didn't want anyone to think he does sloppy work by producing an optic with these kinds of problems.
I sent my mirror to him and he e-mailed me as soon as it was received and he noted the boxes were in good shape which is something I had to inquire about with another vendor versus the other way around.
I received the report on my mirror a few days later with a wavefront analysis showing the stock hardin mirror was undercorrected and it was a bit shy of the 1/4 wave raleigh limit at 1/3.85. I should note that I have another 10" mirror of the same manufacture(GSO) as the stock hardin mirror which tested at 1/6 wave and the latter held up better under high magnification on the planets after repeated testing in the field.
At any rate, Raycraft proceeded to refigure my mirror and after less than two weeks, I received an e-mail report with a wavefront profile and a millies-lacroix plot which are some of the types of data that Zambuto reportedly supplied with his mirrors.
My 10" mirror now sports 1/11.69 wavefront which correlates to a 1/22 wave surface.
Instead of utilizing the standard beral coat offered with the refiguring of the mirror, I opted to use the enhanced coating supplied my Nova Optical Systems which had recently did an excellent job of recoating my 16" mirror and secondary. The enhanced coating cost me an additional $65.00 but I feel it's worth it.
My mirror is presently headed for coating at Nova and I anticipate having it back in a week or so after it arrives.
It's been a pleasure dealing with Alan Raycraft. I feel he's a true craftsman who's proud of his work and he doesn't charge an arm and a leg to do it. He communicated with me every step of the way and provided his test results to backup the quality of his work. I think he's the best kept secret out there.
I look forward to using the mirror under the stars in the near future...
