[ATM] Floppy Disk, was: New? Idea for mirror support

[NGC704 at aol.com (NGC704@aol.com)]

In a message dated 2/13/2004 5:14:28 PM Central Standard Time, 
iss@pvtnetworks.net writes:
The slots/bars
would have to have low stiction, but each one only carries a fraction
of the total weight..thoughts?
Andy, as usual, you get me thinking. You really oughtn't do that, y' know...

Mirrors seem to absolutely defy quantitative testing. I mean, something as 
manifestly simple as a chunk of glass placed upon a support system that 
endeavors to preserve its surface figure should have, by now, produced a consensus 
among designers and/or users of same. And yet, it has not.

You said '*everything* is made of jello'. Yeah, jellooo... What might the 
possibility be of using a precision mockup created from... well, maybe not 
jello... but some sort of soft material that mimics the properties of a glass disk, 
say, some sort of hard rubber, or plastic, disk? Or perhaps a genuine glass 
disk that is absurdly thin, so as to exaggerate the reaction it has to the 
support system we are looking at?

It seems to me that if you could develop a support system that - don't laugh 
- could keep a raw pizza crust-dough in fair shape no matter its orientation, 
then the same support system would be the last word in mirror supports. Maybe 
a little extreme, but that's where my mind is right now (at suppertime). I am 
thinking a test setup that can be observed clearly with the naked eye (and 
don't ask where my mind is when I say 'naked'...). I see it as  case where the 
forces and reactions need to be amplified to a ridiculous extent. (And I think I 
know where all y'all's minds are when you see the word 'ridiculous' in my 
post.)

I'm sure this can't be an original thought, yet I have never seen it 
addressed directly.


Regards,
Kurt Maurer
League City, Texas
http://members.aol.com/NGC704/