From: "Dwight K. Elvey" 
To: atm{at}shore.net
Reply-To: "Dwight K. Elvey" 


>From: "David Margrave" 
>
>
>Here is some interesting software that evidently
>removes a lot of the difficulty and drudgery from
>foucault testing, by means of analyzing digital camera
>images:
>
>http://foucault.sourceforge.net/
>
>Has anyone tried this, and can you comment on the
>difficulty of getting your make of digital camera to
>take the images properly?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Dave
>

Hi
 From other peoples difficulties in getting these images,
having auto focus is a pain. One also needs to understand that the only
light you are really interested in is that that just grazes the edge of the
knife. Masking most of the lens from stray light is a good idea.
 Having a method to get the image into the form used
for input is also a good idea.
 As far as the tester, having a method to do initial
alignment is a must. I use a laser pointer that is off to the side and a
small target on the other side. You just aim it so that the laser is about
in the center of the mirror and the reflection hits the target. Doing it
this way can save a lot of time finding the Foucault point.
Dwight

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