From: "Jerry B. Hillman" 
To: 
Reply-To: "Jerry B. Hillman" 


Hello everyone,
Putting my mirror cell on the test stand has relieved the problem
substantially but after another session which pushed my mirror even closer
to a parabola, I notice that the problem is beginning to return.  My theory
is that the closer to a parabola the mirror gets, the more sensitive the
test is to showing such defects.  To put it simply, the more wave error I
remove, the easier it is to see the remaining error, and potato chipping of
the mirror is certainly an error, even though not due to surface defects.
My copy of plop will not allow me to design a cell with more than 27
points. Is there a version which will allow the design of more than 27
points? Or is my current support problem due to a manufacturing error on my
part? I tried to ensure that I put the cell together correctly, but there
were terms relating to the positioning of the parts that  I did not
understand and a question to the list failed to produce any helpful replys.
Still, I think it is assembled correctly.
I discovered a link on Mel Bartels page to a web site describing a counter
balanced weight system, but it was in French and my high school French
lessons (30 years ago) did not allow me to read it well enough to be able
to put it to use.
Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.  I am getting very
close  to a parabola according to Ronchi and support is becoming a critical
issue.
Clear skies, Jerry

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