Photo via Steve Wilhelm
Open to all ages and free to attend, the Telescope Makers’ Workshop is an all-volunteer group committed to helping people build their own telescopes. Bring your interest and curiosity, and they’ll provide knowledge, enthusiasm, and advice to help you complete your telescope-making projects. No experience necessary.
You will be expected to buy your own materials, including a mirror blank, a grinding tool, a rinse bucket, a spray bottle and paper towels. The workshop carries a small stock of mirror kits for sale at cost, and we can provide you with the names of other sources. The typical 8”-diameter telescope mirror blank and tool cost under $150. A completed 8” telescope on a wooden Dobsonian mount can be built for under $300, compared to $400 – $900 for a commercially-made one.
The Telescope Makers’ Workshop is held every Friday night from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., excluding major holidays that fall on Fridays. The Workshop is always closed on Memorial Day Weekend. Attendance every Friday night is not mandatory, and members work at their own pace. The Workshop meets in its new quarters in California at the new Chabot Space & Science Center, 10000 Skyline Blvd., Oakland.
Project owners + coordinators:
Richard Ozer
posted on Sep 27, 2009:
I’m a member of the Naperville Astronomical Association (Naperville, IL) and we are also currently in the process of a amateur telescope making workshop. We have 20 members in the initial stages of grinding mirror blanks in 6″, 8″ and 10″ sizes, being instructed by our club’s “master optician” who has experience grinding mirrors up to 25″. It is really a fun experience, something that has slowly been lost over the years in our hobby, but we are glad there is a DIY resurgence!
Our website is http://www.naperastro.org and we will be posting photos soon of our progress.
posted on Dec 29, 2009:
Anything like this in the Atlanta area? This sounds like fun and I’d love to make my own telescope.
posted on May 20, 2010:
hmm this is one of my interested topics building my on telescope.I hope it will help me in making a telescope…………………………