Finally had a chance to move to finer grinding compound. I’m very impressed with how much manual labor can be taken out of making a mirror with a grinding machine. The methods used here are from Gordon Waites youtube videos that area available for all to see. He does not detail much on the machine, but for me, I was piecing my machine together for a number of years and did not resolve the mechanics for quite some time. I ultimately had to do this when I had my tragic accident this past spring. Here I was, final figuring my 16″ F3.8 pyrex mirror, which I had been putzing around with for almost 6 years, (I know what you are saying, just finish it already!) Well it was raining that day, I was wearing foam sandals, the bottoms were wet from standing on the grass washing off zirconium oxide. I stood up with mirror in hand like a waiter with a pizza. I turned and stepped on a smooth concrete garage floor, my foot slipped slightly and guess what, my balance on the mirror changed for an instant, and you know what happened then? Well I’m not sure if you have ever heard a 15 pound pyrex mirror crash on a concrete floor, but let me tell you its a gut wrenching sound and feeling, and that was it, after almost 6 years, what was I going to do?, I had already built the telescope, and now no mirror. My only choice was to complete the machine. So thats what I did.