Glen
I made the same mistake of over tightening. Ideally they needn't even touch the surface of the mirror.
With the double sided tape, I think it is just there to hold the triangles in place. I don't think you need worry about being super precise with the placement. These mirrors are quite thick relative to their diameter and minor misplacement of the cell elements shouldn't affect the performance. In Kreige's book he suggests making a Kydex ring and attaching the inner corner of the triangle to it to hold it's alignment.
I solved the problem of removing the double sided tape by simply removing the entire cell and washing the mirror while in its cell. The is nothing there than cannot handle a bit of moisture and while it makes the process slightly more cumbersome, reassembly is much easier!
With the locking knobs, once you have replaced the springs, they are possible the single most useless bit of kit you will own, just remove them and forget about them. I used my old GSO 12" for 4 years without them and it was SOOOO much easier. Also, you never see locking knobs on big dobs.
Malcolm
|