Re: ATM Optical Tooling

[Anthony Stillman <atmer@flash.net>]

Dominic wrote:
>...You seem to be building something a bit more elaborate than what
>would normally be used for mirror testing...
>You do not state the application, and I am curious what it is...


Dominic,

I know you know this, but for the sake of the archive...

You can't make it, if you can't test it.  And you can't test it if you
don't have the right tools.

With that in mind, I've generally put more effort into making tools than
making things. I'll re-use a tool many times, but things almost always get
salvaged for parts.  Also, given the increasing complexity of my projects,
decent metrology is no longer optional.

I tried to come up with some empirical formula to relate shrinking
tolerances to ballooning complexity, but I couldn't even come up with a
reasonable complexity metric.  I suspect one over some constant raised to
the number of surfaces is close, but the ROCs have got to be worked in some
how.

As to the application.  You know I'm not keen on openly discussing things
I've yet to build, or at least yet to start building.  So until this new
tool set is functional, I'll keep my latest flights of fancy to myself.

Regarding the birefringent chain network.  I did actually make a little
quartz slurry recently.  Of course not all of the precision tooling for
this gauntlet is made, but that hasn't stopped a couple of us starting the
self flagellation.


Anthony