L5 satellite workshops.

I love this example. Many of us probably have all the peices to do this and would never think of doing it. We always look for ready made solutions that can be bought off the shelf. I wonder how much this Madison Av. thinking affects how we view what can be done in space?
Mitchell James

hollroa@... wrote: When I was about 7 years old, I can remember my grandfather building a vacuum
plating machine. The interior of the machine was simply a hollow, stainless
steel sphere, with some electric heating elements in its centre. Most of the
cost of the machine was related to the cost of the vacuum pumps. My grandfather
would simply wrap Aluminium foil around the elements, place whatever he wanted
plated within the chamber, and switch on the pumps. When the chamber was
evacuated, he would switch the heating elements on. I remember on one occasion,
the vacuum pump failed to completely evacuate the chamber. The work piece was
therefor plated with aluminium oxide.