ATM

ATM IN THE WORLD

What is ATM? ATM is the amateur telescope making. Today when most of us have insufficient funds, we are unable to buy a telescope, but there is an option of making one. This unusual hobby took place in the mid seventies. Most successful it was in the USA. At every corner there you can buy everything needed to make a telescope.

One of many astroparties in USA, the crowd of people and telescopes

There you can find a really big ones and every of these are homebuilt

ATM IN CROATIA

Unfortunately the harsh reality I realized even in my first attemts of telescope making. When I started in year 2000, I realized that ATM in Croatia doesn't even exist. To make things worse, there was unable to get any telescope part, even anything else that does not relate with telescope, but can be useful for telescope making. It was like someone cursed ATM in Croatia in attempt to kill any chance to get anything which can be useful for telescope making. There was no store where you could buy a glass blank, or grits, or finished telescope mirrors, anything! I was really angry by this situation and could only be jealous at people in USA who had everything needed for telescope making because they have a lot of optical workshops, but not only for eyeglasses like here in Croatia. There in USA are a lot of telescope workshops and flea markets with a great offer of second hand optics. At that time we had no choice but some stores for photo, sport and hunting where you could find only famous low quality last series of Tasco, the ProLux, Bushnell and other junk telescopes of very poor quality at unreasonably high prices, usually $300-500, so I couldn't afford even a small 60mm scope! Then I decided to make at least 6" reflector, but glass and aluminizing service were as far as distant galaxies! Here in Croatia are glass-cutters who make glass tables of 19mm thick plate glass, but the prices are abnormally high. 12“ plate glass blank 19mm thick can cost you over $200 and the highest offer i got was $350 which is the ravin and that's only a plate float glass! 12“ diameter by 2“ thick pyrex glass blank in USA costs about $100 so you can now make the comparision! Even eyepieces are expensive, around $90, so it was suitable to get older and used ones from binoculars or microscopes, but even they can't be bought in any store here, so you can only hope that someone has broken binoculars. Our poor living standard in Croatia simply doesn't allow the existance of any specialized optical workshop opened for everybody or the great telescope store with second hand telescope parts. We are in a small country that has its own bigger problems and we can't afford such a thing. The individual trying to make a telescope has simply no chance to do that. We are on Balkans, the last place where you will find something like ATM, where ATM is almost unknown, where rule the smuggling, theft, where nothing interesting happens, where people do not see the difference between astronomy and astrology. Most of the croatian people have no specific hobby except to gossip and let their brain be washed with various kind of trash from TV (propaganda from RTL and NOVA TV) and when amateur telescope maker arise from that crowd, there has no chance to make any telescope. The Balkans is so futile, hopeless teritory imbued with politics, theft, smuggling, media-marketing manipulation and ethnic intolerance. Strictly personal success and personal benefit is preferred and nobody cares about others. People here see amateur astronomy as a distant, exotic hobby which only rich individuals can afford and assume that optics is expensive. All this happens due to economic crisis caused by enrichment of politicians and other choosen individuals. Only few people including me are trying to make telescopes here because most of people are frustrated having no funds. "Who can even think of the vast Universe and stare at the heavens thru a telescope every night in the middle of economic crisis!" When your folks look at you reproachingly when you are carrying tubes around and grinding the mirrors and if they are interested in absolutely nothing but watching trash on TV, listening what is going on in their neighbourhood to find next victim for gossip and to mock because they do do not have better things to do since they do not see themselves in anything else. They think only about the potatoes, mangold or cabbage in the backyard garden, they do not appreciate your hobby only because they're not interested, than don't be surprised if they give you an ultimatum when they hear the mirror hogging sound! Man with no specific hobby usually asks you only: "What's up?" meaning only at your social behavior and management, status, girls and if they conclude that you spend more time on your hobby than to going outs, girls and other "common stuff" they mock you because they do not have better things to do. So I dedicate this text to that ones because here people have almost no hobbies. When you have no predisposition for hobby than you have nothing else but gossip and politics that usually make severe damage to helpless ones.People here do not concede you anything you make unless if you sell it and if you make profit of it. Some people do not see anything but their own gain, earning money to show that they are the ones, they care only for their personal success and if you don't give a damn then your folks will start to bother you to "wake up" because your neighbour got married and you didn't, or he built bigger house because you "didn't take enough effort to do so"! These things exhaust and frustrate because I don't care that my neighbour has more this or that if I am satisfied with this I have here! I made a great effort to make my first scope, but people ask me if I have financial benefit of telescope making because nothing else interests them. I made my telescope for astronomy, not for sale. I agree that man must struggle for life every day to earn some money for living, but that is not the only sence of life. First thing people ask me: „-Do you sell it?“, „-Is there any profit of that?“ because they think that everyone who does something only for hobby or fun is declared as a drone, they are usually say: „-You wouldn't be occupied with that trash, I would send you to work to construction site to hard labor, all these your telescopes I would rather throw away.“ Just because they are not interested in telescope making so they treat you like that. People with no specific hobby are usually turned to gossip and politics and with that behavior they harm people around only for fun or frustration. Man needs to find the place and some time for hobby to relax from everyday jobs and to find internal peace. Hobby aren't bowling or playing cards, they are tradition or some sort of fun. I consider the hobby as a DIY stuff like radioamateur, fitter, robotics, telescope maker and such. There are not many telescope makers in this corner of the world so that's probably the reason why telescope DIY store or workshop here doesn't exist. It seems like interest in ATM strikes people randomly. Fortunately some telescope makers like Berislav Bračun from the island of Čiovo started to seek the net trying to find some telescope parts and accessories especially on Surplusshed and eBay from USA of course so getting some telescope stuff like glass, eyepieces and objectives was much easier. In year 2004-2005 ATM in Croatia was than widespread. Most helpful in that time was the newsgroup hr.fido.astronomija where a lot of amateurs met each other to make new friendships and exchange the experiences and the most important thing – exchanging telescope parts and accessories. During that time Zlatko Ciganj, the amateur from astronomical society of Rijeka founded the first telescope store in Croatia named Optički instrumenti Optimus. Than was much easier to buy telescopes or ATM parts like mirrors, eyepieces and accessories.

16“ fine ground 19mm thick plate glass mirror made by Beri

my finished 10“, 1“ thick pyrex mirror uncoated

At the time of former Yugoslavia ATM conditions were a bit better. From optical workshop „Vega“ in Ljubljana, Slovenia people could get anything necessary for telescope making. In the former bulletin „Kozmoplov“ man could find the very fine description of mirror making and mount constructing. The cost for telescope kits from „Vega“ was even lower when higher number of individuals ordered a material over commissioners at the schools. Today you can't get anything for mirror making so we must manage in lots of ways. For the example, mirror can be ground from a porthole, but the porthole cannot be bought in any store here so you must be lucky here to meet the person who accidentally has it. I was that luck. My first mirror, the 6“ f8 was made of porthole glass 19mm thick. That porthole, one 10“ pyrex blank, 2“ thick and one 80mm f6.25 russian achromatic objective I bought from mr. Mario Peručić, the former telescope maker from the city of Split. In the mid seventies Mario was one of few telescope makers in Yugoslavia. He ordered the pyrex blank from Germany, the porthole from offshore industry „Brodospas“ in Split from the old ship. Achromatic objective he bought from the military surplus of former Yugoslav army.

Partially hogged out 12“ pyrex mirror

According to hard-to-find thick glass, the whole telescope making must be let to chance. We must persist to find someone who has something in the corner of his shed. But that chance you may wait for years and probably with no result. When something cannot be bought, then chances to get it are very small or zero. Everything can be found only in the USA and elsewhere outside Croatia because we got nothing here, we are the last place in the world where man can make telescopes. The shipping cost from USA to Croatia may overlap the item price few times so it is recommended to gather more people for making a group order. 127mm f9.4 achromatic objective from Surplusshed costs about $150 and its shipping cost for American people is around $5 and their living standard is far better than ours. When someone from Croatia tries to order that objective, the shipping cost is around $40. The major difficulty is that everything imported from USA that costs over $60 (shipping included) requires to pay really big taxes. Than we get trouble because of frustrated grannies that are our beloved custom officers. When we come to pick up our precious imported item, they ask us the various sorts of silly questions like: „What is this for?“ or „Do you have licence to order this?“ or „Do you have the registered trade to order this?“ Than the total cost for the objective can reach about $400 compared to $155 for buyers from USA and their earnings are about $3000 and mine 3000HRK (around $500) – that is horrible! On the Cloudynight Telescope Reviews I saw Americans who ordered two 127mm achromatic objectives according to such a cheapness and boast that they made even the large binoculars, and I who sit here on this side of Atlantic can only jealously watch their achievments and doing so I look like a stump. The Balkans and ATM are incompatible concepts! If something even can be bought here, something like PVC tube over 12“ diameter, the seller will tell you that these tubes are only the wholesale for construction industries who buy over 50 pcs. Imagine how difficult can be buying the only one stupid PVC tube! Just because we need it for telescope tube! The same thing is when we try to buy polishing pitch, the Gugolz. Here in Croatia there is a commissioner for getting the pitch from the trade Schott, Germany, but individual person can't buy it because the pitch is intended only for the institutes like „Ruđer Bošković“ in Zagreb because they have their internal optical department so I had to beg them and with kindnes of mr. Severović they gave me a pound of pitch. During the period 2005-2007 with the kindness of employers of that optical department we could coat our mirrors there, but after all that they said that they cannot do that anymore for us because aluminum coating for amateur astronomy isn't their job description. Again the same problem. The lack of aluminum coating service for ATM is one of our biggest problem which was permanently solved in the year 2010. The optical workshop „Ghetaldus“ in the city of Zagreb allowed us to aluminize our mirrors there. Here in Croatia were attempts to make the vacuum chamber by the action of some enthusiasts like our Željko Andreić from Zagreb, but there are a lot key items in that procedure like tighteness of the chamber's cover, then the succeeding to get the high vacuum or properly deposited aluminum layer. Global crisis left the terrible consequences to interest of Croatian people in the ATM so the Korenica ATM 2009 failed to organize. There were attempts to import the vacuum chamber which would be settled at the Korenica astronomy club, but that failed too because of crisis. Please read this article about struggling of the croatian amateurs for getting telescope making parts and kits.

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