[ATM] Mirror cells - some professional literature and ideasforamateurs

[stuart452 at earthlink.net (Stuart Hutchins)]

Thank you, Tom, for the links.  I, for one, found them fascinating.  But
celt.ucolick.org/reports told me I was FORBIDDEN and made me feel unwelcome.
And the first Gemini link was blank.  The others will take more time for me
to thoroughly digest

What is shown by the other links was a glimpse of the structural analysis
engineering that lies behind the support and pointing of a reflecting optic.
We ATMs in this age are a little like the model railroaders.  Can't afford
to build a real road, but...  Hopefully we are having fun.

> My $64 question:  Can I make whiffletree cells for large/thin mirrors
> that serve as both axial and lateral support...in other words combine
> the two functions of axial and lateral support in one mechanical
> structure.  (The pro's choose not to...but can I get away with it?  Hey,
> I've already done it with a 16 inch, 1.5 inch thick mirror...but how
> big/thin can I go...using a passive system?)

The Plop user interface apparently does not let us directly calculate the
effects of lateral supports such as glued pads on the whiffle elements.  But
the bending forces can be calculated easily, if you noticed my post on the
"S Mirror".
http://home.earthlink.net/~stuart-atm/id1.html
 And the mirror distortion is linear with the applied forces.  Therefore,
the size of bending distortion could be estimated by looking at the hills
and valleys of the Plop contours and relating them to the forces on the
support points.  If the bending forces are added in, and the deflections
scaled, you will have the resulting total surface deformation, at least in
numerical form.

The other way, is to somehow get directly to Plate, the FEM used in Plop, or
back to the original Plate by Taki.

BTW, I am working on some easy-to-make, co-planar whiffle tree ideas you
might be interested in.  Keeps all pivots close to the glass.  Drawings to
follow soon.

Regards,
Stuart Hutchins