Mirror re-aluminising

Hey guys. I've stripped down the 254mm dia. dob. that Stevie kindly offered me and found the primary to be in need of some TLC. Pretty stubborn dirt and some big patches of uncoated glass are evident. I'm wondering the following:

Does anywhere on the island do mirror re-coating? I know there are a few UK places but it would be nice not to have to post the mirror.

How should I go about ascertaining if the glass is scratch-free before sending the mirror to be coated? Can you focault test a coated mirror?


If the mirror is scratched I was considering regrinding and polishing it. I'm fairly sure I'll get into the dangerous waters of ATM some day.

Any comments or suggestions are welcome.

Hi Martinus,

There's no where in Ireland that will recoating, you will have to ship it to a UK dealer. I recommend Orion Optics. I bought my original mirror from them and in MAC we used them for recoating too, with great results:

www.orionoptics.co.uk/OPTICS/mirrorrecoating.html

Seanie.

Thanks Seanie

Orion were top of my list were there no local options.

I've read a few guides on using ferric (circuit board etchant) to remove the coating but there are numerous provisos that suggest it may also etch the glass. I guess I could polish the coating off but again, I don't have enough experience working with optics to know if this is a good idea.

If I knew for a fact that the mirror was scratch free I'd have no issues. :S