Aluminizing Summary
My 8" mirror is done; now I need to aluminize it.
The final step of making a telescope mirror, after spending months grinding glass into a parabola, is to cover the perfectly shaped glass in a thin layer of shiny reflective metal.
The most common technique is melting aluminum in a vacuum chamber so the atoms gently float onto the glass and stick. (There’s also a newer spray silvering technique that involves $400 of chemicals but amortizes out to cheap for many mirrors. ). For me, my only option is to send it to someone else with a vacuum chamber.
One plan for an international smuggling relay race and several progress-halting third party injuries later (long story), my mirror has been sitting at the home of someone with a vacuum chamber. I just got word that after two months, my mirror should hopefully be aluminized this weekend! It’ll still take a few more weeks to get checked for oxidation and shipped back to me, though…