Angles as low as 8 degrees require ~60" rails to fit all 100 channels. Rails made out of aluminum (chosen for the ease of machining and to keep the load on the adjustable supports light) will sag significantly compared to the thickness of the fiber, if they are supported on the edges. Optimized positions have been found (roughly 28% of the way from the edge) to minimize the sag. Also, thickening the rail in the direction perpendicular to the ground to the maximum reasonable degree helps significantly (the sag is inverse to the third power of this dimension). Using these methods, the calculated sag has been reduced to about 35 μm. The brackets shown in blue in the above illustration represent the mounting structures to which the motors (described above) are attached. | Angles as low as 8 degrees require ~60" rails to fit all 100 channels. Rails made out of aluminum (chosen for the ease of machining and to keep the load on the adjustable supports light) will sag significantly compared to the thickness of the fiber, if they are supported on the edges. Optimized positions have been found (roughly 28% of the way from the edge) to minimize the sag. Also, thickening the rail in the direction perpendicular to the ground to the maximum reasonable degree helps significantly (the sag is inverse to the third power of this dimension). Using these methods, the calculated sag has been reduced to about 35 μm. The brackets shown in blue in the above illustration represent the mounting structures to which the motors (described above) are attached. |