[ATM] New? Idea for mirror support

[gilgagne at bellsouth.net (Gil Gagne)]

This thread brings to mind Alan Adler's "Flexing Spheres into High 
Quality Telescope Mirrors", Sky & Telescope, Nov. 2000, p. 131-140.
He cemented a plate with a central stud to the back of a "thin" 
spherical mirror and, by applying tension to the stud, flexed the mirror 
into a near perfect paraboloid. This technique enabled him to skip the 
tedious and messy figuring process. The article claimed wonderful star 
test results with never any mention of central distortion from the stud.

Even if this new idea isn't completely original, I'm tempted to try it.

Gil