Hello,
This is my first post here. I'm designing my first machine and I could really use some advice. It's an unusual type of machine and not one that is usually computer-controlled. It's a telescope mirror grinding and polishing machine for the amateur astronomy market. This website explains how a few designs of traditional machine work:
Document sans nom
There are other types of lapping machines, and the main difference here is that the tool is on top, and the part you're lapping (the mirror) is on the bottom. The mirror spins and the lapping tool is pulled across the surface, slowly polishing away at the glass. The desired surface is not a flat one either, so the tolerances aren't in reference to a plane, they're in reference to a curve, more specifically a paraboloid. Those are the main differences.
Anyways, I basically want to do a sanity check. Is this design as problematic as I think it might be? You should be able to see in the attached images that there is a linear rail and carriage that moves back and forth over the mirror. It pulls with it the spindle (the vertical post), and the post would sit down in a notch in the top of the tool (not shown in the pictures). The tool is a disk that sits on the mirror, with pitch on the bottom, and a polishing compound is put on the mirror. As the mirror spins under the tool, the friction between the tool and the mirror is shown by the blue arrow in the second photo. As you can see, the force is tangent to the rotation. That's the issue. Becuase the force is going to cause a lot of twisting action on the linear rail. The force could be up around 200lbs at the bottom of the spindle/post. But I want to design it to withstand more.
My main question is this: is it possible to build a linear rail to withstand this?
I'm designing this machine around PBC Linear's rails (
https://www.pbclinear.com/Products/A...Slide-Assembly).
It seems like if I went with their Roller Pillow Blocks it could work (
https://www.pbclinear.com/Products/R...r-Pillow-Block).
I know this is probably a little vague and rambling, I'm just looking for help.