GRINDING /POLISHING MACHINE
(WEINO TYPE)
Having tired of pushing glass manually, I decided to build for myself a grinding /polishing machine to lighten the task. I carried out a detailed study of the machines built by various ATMers, absorbing their ideas, before I settled on the design. In this endeavour I am extremely grateful to Messrs Ken Lilja, Dennis Rech of Mirror-o-Matic, Ken Hunter, Frank Ward and Richard Schwarz for their advice and guidance and the patience with which they answered my sometimes naïve questions. I would also like to thank Mr. Mel Bartel for providing to us ATMers such an excellent resource as the ATM List and Archives, without which the efforts of many a amateur trying to make his own mirror and telescope would have come to nought.
In this venture, I have been helped by my friend Mr. PC Joshi who is also an ATMer and has built various telescopes. His extensive knowledge of the local ‘kabadibazar’ (see note below) helped in locating many parts, which go to build this machine. I am also indebted to Mr. Chaurasia and his workshop in fabricating some of the parts and his advice and tips in fabrication.
My Grinding Machine
Picture shows the machine in operation. A trial six-inch mirror is being rough ground by a 3-inch metal disk as tool. The drive arm is a teak wood strip with a hole and a slot. Adjusting the position of the vertical bolt in the slot adjusts the starting point of the stroke. I had to use this arrangement, as I could not lay my hands on a turnbuckle.
View shows the machine with the platter removed and the over arm raised. I used sieved river sand for rough grinding. It is slow and breaks down easily but the supply is plentiful and it is cheap.
