[ATM] stainless steel "freezing" and PLOP

[Jay Kirkland <jaykirk2@compusmart.ab.ca>]

At the specialty store where I get all the nuts, bolts, etc I use on my
scopes, they have a large sign above the stainless section that warns that
stainless steel nuts and bolts over time can actually "weld" themselves
together permanently if they are not properly lubricated. This must be some
kind of chemical reaction on the part of the stainless. Since on my mirror
cells I think such  permanent assembly would be a good thing if it actually
happened, I have not been too concerned. But if you do plan on taking
certain bits apart some day, I would ask your bolt specialist about the
lubrication. 

Even on oddly shaped triangles, if you left the same amount of edge (say
1/2") on the outside of the triangles beyond the the three support points,
that wouldn't alter the CoB, would it? For my 20"s 27 pt, the large
triangles are 1/4" stainless and the small are 1/8" stainless with a 1/2"
border outside all the support points All the triangles seem to balance
just fine. Certainly nothing that I'd even consider counterweighting. If
you need to counterweight your triangles and they've been cut with
reasonable care, wouldn't that more likely mean that there is something
wrong with the placement of the balance points? I'd be tempted to think
that there is something way wrong with the design of the cell itself. Maybe
a first step would be to double check the design of  these unbalanced cells
with my old friend (??) Plop. Something just doesn't sound right there at
all. 

Jay


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