Why quartz?

Quartz glass is actually fused silica - a very pure glass with an extremely high melting point. Fused silica has been used for decades for research grade telescopes in the 0.5 to 3-meter size range. Quartz however has been traditionally far too expensive for the amateur market. Our mission is to bring quartz to the amateur market at an affordable cost

Quartz is much stronger than borosilicate glass so the mirror blank can be much thinner and consequently lighter weight compared to the same aperture glass mirror blank. This also means the mirror cell can be simpler and lighter weight for any given mirror diameter.

Another significant advantage with quartz is the expansion due to thermal absorption is 7 times less than Pyrex, which has been the gold standard in mirror blanks for years. This means your telescope will be producing pinpoint images while your neighbor is still trying to cool down and stabilize his mirror.

While the surface hardness of quartz is higher than borosilicate glass, it is still much lower than silicon carbide grit. This means there is not a significant differance in grinding a rough curve. The softening point of quartz however is twice that of pyrex, so it is much slower to polish. Polishing quartz will require an increased weight added to the polishing tool. Quartz is not the best choice if you are contemplating figuring your first mirror. If you have some experience grinding mirrors however, and want to make a high quality, lightweight mirror, quartz is your substrate of choice.

Because we buy this quartz below wholesale, we can offer telescope mirror blanks at substantialy lower prices than the large retail suppliers. Our standard blanks are cut to 1" thickness, but we accept custom orders for any thickness. We have nominal diameters of 6", 7", 8", 11", 11-3/4 and 12-1/2".

We can now generate rough spherical curves to your desired focal length! Pricing varies acording to apature and radii. Please call for estimates.

Our quartz comes from the semiconductor support industry and must meet very stringent quality control requirements. Because it must be machined to produce the products it is normaly used for, no internal cracks, bubbles or contamination can be tolerated by the manufacturer. Because of this you can be assured any mirror blank purchased will be the finest quality glass available on the market. We guarantee our product to be defect free. If you are unsatisfied with our product for any reason, just return the product for a replacement or refund.

Mirror blanks can be shipped to the buyer or to any mirror maker of your choice. We recomend Obsidian optics because he has the most experience with quartz substrates and is better equiped to handle it.

Below are some of the mirror makers we have been in contact with.

Mike Lockwood  Obsidian Optics  Optical Mechanics Inc.  Pegasus Optics  Precision Optical  Stevens Optical  Swayze Optical