Re: ATM Thin glass blank & some questions

[Anthony Stillman <atmer@flash.net>]

>...recommendations for properly
>supporting a thin mirror for testing purposes?
>Robert



Pretty much any thin minicus is going to suffer from non-rotationally
symetric abberations when supported edgewise to an applied force.(1)  It is
possible to surround an element with an equlibrating medium to mitigate and
control the nature of the distortion.  Methods to implement this include
inner-tubes that grab or are adheared to the edge of the element, filled
with everything you can imagine and are then mounted in a sold fixture.
Castable rubber, can also fulfill the strain relief function with better
dampening charateristics, but care must be taken not to induce distortion
by casting stress into the rubber.  Even corrigated cardboard wrapped
around the blank edge and the lot stuffed snuggly into a stiff ring can do
wonders.



Anthony

1) The bad new is stig.  Get use to it.  The good news is you can know its
not real when testing by testing rotating 90 degrees and testing again.  Of
course you can support it out in use.