Re: ATM !! HELP!!! FIGURING HELP POLISHING!!!

[George Anderson <georgea@CAM.ORG>]

Geoff Gallo wrote:
> 
Very large snip of text

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
>    Geoff Gallo


WARNING: Some may find the following LONG response offensive due to
religious or moral beliefs. If so I apologize in advance.

Geoff:

Sit back, chill out and take some time off. Not all of the people on
this list have access to the internet, they may just have e-mail
capabilities. Also some of us are still running very slow old modems and
visiting web pages with graphics and photos can take a very long time.
Buy, beg, scrounge, or make a ronchi grating. This will make it much
easier to describe to others just what the figure looks like.
If the polishing process seems to be totally random (ie:what worked
twenty minutes ago does something totally different now) and no matter
what you do the hole in the middle just keeps getting deeper, your pitch
may be too soft. I had the opposite problem with too hard a pitchlap and
no matter what stroke I used the mirror stayed spherical. I modified the
pitch lap to a star shape using the "Ah looks good enough" technique. I
then dug a wonderful hole in less than 10 minutes. I poured a new pitch
lap adding a few drops of turps to the pitch. Now the lap was too soft
and only wanted to polish the center.
Back to your situation, go to the local stores and buy three quarts of
orange juice and a bottle of tylenol (or some other headache tablets). o
back to your place and wash the lap and blank. Put some cerium on the
blank, put the pitch lap on top, place a weight on the lap and put the
whole thing in the fridge.
Go to the college/university pub, have supper and scope out the cutest
SINGLE girl there. Spend a bit of time trying to pick her up using
cheezey but polite pick up lines. After she rejects you console yourself
with alcohol (If this didn't happen then you won't be worried about the
mirror and you will have to come back and try again another night), then
when you have had too much to drink take a taxi home.
When you get up in the morning with a killer hangover go to the fridge
and take out one of the OJ containers and the pitch/blank. Put the
mirror stuff on the kitchen table and pour an eight ounce glass of OJ.
Take some tylenol with the OJ and sit down at the table facing the
mirror stuff. Gently move the mirror (if the hangover is bad enough
this  will take a fair bit of effort) and do 1/3 w strokes with no
pressure rotating the blank and pitch every few minutes. After about ten
to fifteen minutes the pain will be too much. Put the stuff back in the
fridge and veg out for about half an hour. Repeat polishing part  for
the rest of the day till the hangover is gone. Make sure to drink OJ or
water throughout the process as the alcohol has dehydrated you.
Once you feel human put the blank on your tester and go out for a long
walk in the fresh air, then go have supper. When you get back, do that
paper that is due for tomorrows fluid mechanics course.
Just before you crash for the night have a look at the future mirror
with the ronchi grating. Everything should be heading towards spherical
and smooth. Reflect on the days progress. Do a little bit each day on
the blank and let the blank chill out for several hours before you
examine it with the tester.
After everything is close to smooth and spherical do your work and room
temp but with the same slow and gentle strokes used during the hangover.

George Anderson
Montreal Canada

Clear skies and good health