Flex mounts - solid base fixing?

[logsquared]

I will give away what I have discovered making mounts over the past few years. Two screws is best. Tends to cancel the torque from the screw. If using only one screw, I found that if your mount and plate are not perfectly flat and clean you have the problem you mentioned. Or, the mount will move over time. There is a mechanical solution that helps. What you can do is make it so the mount "stands on two feet". Make sure the washer covers as much of the feet as possible. And is as thick as possible. Check my cheesy paint drawing for an example.

Also, make sure the hole in the base plate is well countersunk.

Nothing wrong with the glue method either. I use cheap 5 min epoxy. I always clean the area with mek or lacquer thinner first.

[LaserCo]

Baking such things in the oven "annealing" is reported to be a good step to use before putting them to use... it eliminates some of the stress

[Bbe]

Any kind of "flex" mounts = solution for patient guys. Metal fluidity, metal fatigue and thermal drift will not let you forget about the correction after a while anyway. In other words - a continuous workaround instead of moving forward

Solution:

[logsquared]

heating to about 500deg F for 1-2 hours does relieve stress in brass and aluminum. It can be done in a toaster oven. I have heard some guys have said to heat brass with a torch and quench in water. I wouldn't recommend this as it can make your brass soft like copper.

I don't think this is what is causing Adam's problems however.

[andy_con]

nortys problem is the mirror mount moving left to right, cos its sat on a flat surface

[Bbe]

In that case is much easier to use steel mounts )))

toheat brass with a torch and quench in water

what about the flat surface sandblasting?

nortys problem is the mirror mount moving left to right

[logsquared]

In that case is much easier to use steel mounts )))

Actually, I have steel x/y dicro mounts in a few projectors. Hands down the most stable mounts I have built.

[norty303]

I think I'm going to get the dremel out and rough up the mating surfaces and try some epoxy and see how that goes. My MM1 style mounts seem much more stable but unfortunately I just don't have the room in some projectors, and with some of my projectors using 5 mounts, the cost would not be inconsiderable to change over. Thanks for the input folks.

[m0f]

I ended up epoxying a bunch of mine, though not perfect it's enough to stop the from moving around during adjustment, and also not 100% permanent which to me is a good thing.

Those non-flex style mounts look like they'd be great for stability, though I think could be a challenge to use in tight spaces.

[Lasermad]

OR DESIGN THEM TO FIT ON A RAIL !!!

So why we dont have a RAIL that can be screwed done with two screws in a line that we can bolt various
dichro mounts and mirrors onto ? for a reasonable price ?

I also dont really understand a lot of these mounts I see , do you not basically have to GLUE the mirror or dichro onto them ? jeex thats so 20th centuary ?