Mirror kits - worth it?

[Jolanta Zofia Nowak]

Has anyone any experience in figuring their own mirrors and generally any experience with blanks bought as part of 'mirror kits'?

It looks like an inexpensive way to go about acquiring a decent-sized instrument but I'm very wary as it seems to call for a lot of technical skill.

[carlos_dfc]

It's actually more a case of care and patience - rather than technical skill, when it comes to 'pushing glass'
Personally though - I don't think I'd have that patience.

I am however, currently in the process of building myself a 10" reflector, after I acquired a very good 10" f/5 mirror, cheap (£25)
If you don't fancy grinding your own mirror, you can buy good quality, telescope-ready, mirrors from 'Galvoptics'
telescope kits, build your own. newtonian , dobsonian
They also sell blanks, grinding/polishing compounds, etc. if you decide to do the whole thing yourself.

I'm gonna get Galvoptics to re-coat my 10" mirror, and am also gonna buy the diagonal 'flat' from them.

And for working out the neccesary dimensions to build the tube - I recommend a program called 'Newt25'
Dale Keller's Newt Software page
Using this, I worked out the dimensions to build a test-rig to check out the newly acquired mirror, using an old focuser, and the diagonal flat from my other reflector.
Not pretty, but it gave great images while it was assembled.
ASTRO-CHAT - :: View topic - 10" ATM newtonian

For the 10" scope 'proper', I'm building an octagonal section tube from pine, nicely stained and varnished, with brass screws wherever screw-heads will show.
Give it a nice 'retro' look