As is often the case when designing a solution for a new problem, the first idea isn't always the best. Your solution seems simpler and probably better than the one I've chosen.
I'll complete my fiber optic source, then play around with Steve's idea and compare the results. Since the light source needs to be 3-6 feet from the mirror screw, and the screw is about 5 inchs wide, the angle is relatively small, so I think that I won't need a perspex rod.
I wonder if this approach would also work for our lens-disk scanner:
http://www.earlytelevision.org/weste...storation.html
Here the problem was getting a point light source (20 mils) with a dispersion angle of about 20 degrees. I'm using an original crater lamp now, but hate to demonstrate it, since there are very few of these around. Couldn't a bright LED be used with 4 parallel mirrors and a hole 20 mils in diameter?
Darryl has completed the color version of his Aurora, and built a light source for his 60 line scanning disk set. The results are amazing:
http://www.earlytelevision.org/color...ew.html#12-31a