Re: [ATM] Report from a professional optical shop near Baltimore

[Dominic-Luc Webb <dlwebb@canit.se>]

On Fri, 28 Oct 2005, Bob May wrote:

> Dominic, remember taht pad materials don't change their ROC like
> pitch does.  Putting pads right on an iron tool will insure that
> the ROC of the surface is going to stay exactly where it is.
> With pitch, I'd edpect that from the forces involved, the pitch
> will indeed thin out at the edges as you are putting q lot of

Yup, well, that is exactly what I experienced regarding pitch or
bee's wax, although the latter tends to be a bit harder. I have
yet to make an iron tool, but pads I have tried on the concrete
tool and this worked better than pitch, as per what you already
stated and clearly know.

So maybe you have some advice on making an iron tool? I do not
have a machine shop, just common hack saws, cutting wheels, tap/die
sets and drills. I have been thinking about the prospects of thin
sheet iron hammered into shape over the concrete tool and/or
bolted onto iron rods in a flexed mirror type arrangement so I
can "tune" the shape.

Is there a simple way to grind/cut iron to a precise curve without
a metal lathe (since I still did not buy one)? Maybe something I
should consider having made by a machinist?


Dominic-Luc Webb

_______________________________________________
ATM mailing list http://www.atmlist.net/