Featured here is one of the several high speed diamond lapping machines. These machines produce a fine ground surface on the glass being worked which is then ready for it's journey into the polishing department. The surfaces produced in this lapping process are accurate to within a few wavelengths of light.
The optical technicians running these machines produce mirrors daily with an accuracy of + or - 0.000003". This accuracy can only be tested with light, mechanical methods are far too inaccurate when working to precision levels as this. Producing one of our largest mirrors 14" f4.6 can be on the polishing machine for more than 12 hours to reach this accuracy, it is a slow and time consuming job which only a few people around the world can achieve with consistent results.
This is where the skill of the optician really comes to the fore. Every mirror these opticians produce has to pass through their hands to be figured, to reach a minimum surface standard of 1/8 PV accuracy. To reach accuracies of up to 1/32 PV surface, technicians have to work during the night when the workshop air is very steady and minimal vibration occurs.
This is the final process mirror passes through. In this air filtered temperature controlled room, only specific personnel have access and all wear particle free laboratory clothing. Mirrors are coated with two layers of aluminium and over coated with a protective quartz layer. To achieve this strong resilient coating the vacuum plant pumps down to almost 1,000,000th of atmospheric pressure.
CNC machining, as shown in the photograph here, is one of the fundamental quality aspects of our telescopes. Precision machining to microns is essential with modern telescope designs. Here, an OMC component is being machined, the CNC doors being temporarily opened to show the process clearly.
A Zygo Laser Interferometer is a world standard for precision optical evaluation. The one in use in our optical department is in constant use quantifying the precision surfaces achieved by our optical technicians. Errors as small as 1/100th PV on optical surfaces can be detected. The Zygo is invaluable not only for determining the accuracy of our optical surfaces and complete telescopes, it is a fundamental tool in continuous monitoring of our optical manufacturing processes. Combined, these two features ensure we are making the highest quality telescopes available to customers,
Shown here is an OMC-140 on final Interferometer test prior to sending to packing department. All our telescopes have to pass several critical tests prior to despatch, The Zygo being the most critical possible. We also make available an optional Interferometer test report on our own telescopes and also interferometer testing of most other telescopes can be provided. we pride ourselves with the stringent quality control within Orion, particular attention being paid to optical components.
One key requirement of precision optics is the accuracy of the radii of curves being polished. Especially in Maksutovs, the tolerances on curvatures is extremely critical. A change in radius of a fraction of a millimetre can have serious effects on a telescopes performance. To achieve consistent curves, our optical technicians use spherometers. These instruments are capable of measuring changes in depth of curves as small as 0.5 micron, enabling the technician to monitor precisely any deviation from the design's standard.
Quality of engineered parts to a telescope is as critical as the optical performance. At Orion Optics we constantly monitor the output from all our machines and personnel. Seen here, a CNC operator is measuring with a digital Vernier gauge, a component turned on our large CNC lathe.
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