In this talk an introduction to amateur telescope making (ATM) will be provided. Starting from grinding the mirror, testing it and building the telescope around it.
Why to take the effort to make your own telescope? Because it's custom and many times even cheaper.
How-To grind your own mirror, lens, test its optical properties and build the telescope around that optics. The focus will be on newtonian telescopes but other types will be outlined as well.
Grinding the optical components is the trickiest part, here the techniques and methods are explained, especially how to make high precission optics with your own hands.
Testing those is very critical especially in the late manufaturing process, but optical testbenches can be made for as much as 30-50€
The most time consuming part is the building of the telescope itself, here many aspects have to be considered and taken into account.