Hi steve I personally will not be making the blanks as that requires about a quarter million dollar facility. What I would be doing is giving that facility fill work using some designs which I intend to prove first. The blanks will have a rib design but how the ribs are made is up to the facility. A family friend is a co-owner/investor so he his offering me a good deal. His son owns a bent glass (slumping and fusing) oven. After I get the first blank I will take a couple of days to polish and figure it. If it tests Great as it should then I will give the OK to make more.

A structured full thickness blank will weigh about half of a regular blank and about 35% less than a 2 1/4" slab. By the way Newport just gave me a price of $275 for a 20"x2"T plate glass tool blank.

I will try to give you a better estimate but first what would you be willing to pay for a 20" f:4 pre-curved Pyrex blank that is strong enough for equatorial mounting?

What no 80 grit roar?
-Rick