Kurt, does your cell have both face clips and centration adjustment? Or just the face clips? Both face restraint and centration adjusters must be addressed. A slight bit of mirror slop is desirable in a visual telescope, but for imaging it can cause problems, as you are aware. There are materials and techniques available now that will allow you to restrain the mirror more firmly without introducing stress. I seem to recall mentioning primary mirror movement at the start of this thread. On 8/13/07, Kurt Fisher <fisherka@csolutions.net> wrote:
As part of an ongoing project to minimize cone error in a GEM mount, for my 10" Newt I have things isolated down to mirror flop. You follow the flop rotating the scope from east to west RA and a Zhumell laser collimator. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to temporarily but safely suppress mirror flop in a 10" Orion Newt? I'm assume that the cell simply needs to be removed and the clasps holding the mirror in place tightened. On the otherhand, I understand that the free-flop movement is there to prevent stresses from building up in the mirror. - Kurt