Amateur Telescope Making
When we talk about the field of amateur telescope making we generally say that people take it as a hobby in the beginning!! In the past when Galileo developed the astronomical invention by adapting it from the Dutch inventions everyone was amazed, .Since then astronomers have been developing telescopes according to their needs. The different sky lovers have been taking this as a hobby but using telescopes gained popularity in the twentieth century and became popular.
Telescopes made by people may vary. The different telescopes made by amateur astronomers may include the Refractors, Schmidt Casssegrains and Maksutoys. However he most widely made telescopic design is the Newtonian reflector. The design of this new telescope is rely useful because it has one of the largest size, and you have also to spend less. The design uses a single reflector mirror and it works as its objective, so the person who is making e telescope has to polish and ground only a single surface. A Telescope if has been designed in a unique way holds greater importance. A Newtonian telescope should be the one an amateur should start with, for this you can easily search the books, the internet, take help from Astro clubs or join the nearest Astro workshop.
Firs when making the reflector of the telescope you have to very attentively and smoothly polish and ground the mirror. Then you have to give it the correct shape. It may happen that the telescopes with a high focus ratio may be using spherical mirrors .The different tools use to achieve the different shapes are amazing and really simple .They include a number of glass tools with varying sizes ,a number of fine abrasives as well as a polishing pitch usually made from a typical type of tree sap. By applying a series of random strokes the mirror tends to become spherical and assumes the desired shape. But make sure you get the desired parabola. You can use a Foucault to test the shape of the mirror. You have to also shadow the mirror at the time of Foucault testing. Then you have to put the silver coating on the mirror, a thin coating of a highly reflecting substance. You have also to aluminize the mirror by placing it in a vacuum chamber with electrically heated tungsten or nichrome coils, some people expose it to pure oxygen or air in an oven so that the mirror will form a tough, clear layer of aluminum oxide.
The design, construction and working of the telescopes made may vary; you may go for a crude look or even an aesthetic look with greater levels of mechanical finish.
To conclude with one should always prefer making a telescope which is as large as possible, is easy to make, can be made using material which are easily available, are not too costly and are durable as well and can be transported easily. The telescope can be mounted on simple plywood at the right position.