Friday, April 9, 2010

Making M3 Byoootiful!

Our main reason for electing to re-wash M3 was an extremely thin line of squiz we found at the outer edge of the coating.  Some of this material dissolved during yesterday's wash & caused mild streaking at the very edge of the mirror.  Although far outside M3's clear aperture, we decided it would be best to remove this if at all possible.


A small area was successfully tested with a cotton swab before proceeding to clean the whole edge with sodium lauryl sulphate. 


The offending substance was carefully removed & then the edge of the mirror was drag-wiped.

 

Yesterday's cleaning process was then repeated - the radial drag-wiping, rinsing with distilled water & finally blow drying.  Afterwards, the lights were switched off & the mirror inspected with a flashlight...


The result was Superb! :)


After the inspection & photo-shoot, M3's cover was replaced & the mirror lifted to allow it to be dried thoroughly.


At that stage it could be lowered back into its box...


& the team could breathe a huge sigh of relief :)  Great job guys!!

1 comment:

  1. Lisa I'd like to congratulate you on the 1st birthday of your fantastic blog! Let's hope, for the sake of science and SALT, it doesn't last much longer.

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