MANAGEMENT: FABRICATION
ARCHIVES
Click on thumbnails for
larger picture.
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The original aluminum billet was 10'x6'x1' and was sent to
Yarding Metals in Connecticut and Metal Cutting Specialists in Houston for
cutting. The pieces were then shipped back to us in Tucson for more
detailed cutting and fabrication. |
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One of the many objects to be sculpted out of the billet
might start like this, a single block of aluminum. |
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The machining of the Field Lens Mount Tube for the OIWFS. |
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The finished Field Lens Mount Tube for the OIWFS. |
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We received the CNC-machined Slit Decker plate back
from Merit. |
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Also from Merit, this is the Entrance Window, part of the
Environmental Cover. We've also
received many small piece parts. |
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This is the Camera Turret Hub, black anodized. The Camera
Turret Assembly will hold
all four cameras on the main bench. |
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The Wave Front Sensor Bench being machined on the big
Hurco in our instrument shop. |
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The finished Wave Front Sensor Bench. |
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The finished Wave Front Sensor Bench with the cover on. |
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Randy Bennett began working on the main Bench (bottom) on
1/22/01. Here the main cavities are being hogged out. |
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A close-up view of the work on the main Bench bottom.
1/22/01 |
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The man Bench bottom, finished on one side, now turned over
to begin work on the other side. |
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The main Bench bottom, close up. |
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This is the Pick-Off Mirror Mount Plate. Due to our greater
capabilities with SolidWorks, we are able to machine pieces like this for
the first time in our Instrument Shop. |
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Another view of the Pick-Off Mirror Mount Plate, showing the
convexity within the outer frame. |
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Here is the finished camera turret hub on the test fixture. |
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The camera turret hub on the test fixture with more hardware
being added. |
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The initial machining of the bottom bench has been
completed; here it is shown on top of the aluminum piece that will be
machined into the top of the bench. |
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Another view of the bottom bench and the top bench aluminum. |
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The top piece of the main bench went on the Hurco the week
of February 5th. Randy Bennett has nearly completed the first cut on the
main cavities. |
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Close up view of the top bench and the drill bit used to hog
out the main cavity. |
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Another view of the top bench. |
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John Stein has finished machining the Drive Housing for the
turret drive assembly. Here it is in the small Hurco, with the control
panel in the background. |
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No, it's not a headstone for a mouse, it's the Drive Housing
for the turret drive assembly. |
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The larger and top piece of the main bench went on the Hurco the week
of 2/5/01. |
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The VME crate as of the 2/9/01. Richard
Wolff has been making good progress. |
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A frontal view of the VME crate, 2/9/01. The open right side of the
crate is for the OIWFS boards. |
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The VME crate hooked up to the test fixture, far left.2/9/01 |
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John Stein is working on the OIWFS Field Lens Support Tube
and the OIWFS Support Tube, shown here as of 3/14/01. Using the Lucas
horizontal boring mill, John has bored bolt holes into the collars of both
tubes and bolted them together. |
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A front view of the two tubes bolted together. John also
milled the odd shape of the front collar, foreground in the picture.
3/14/01 |
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Side view of the two OIWFS tubes bolted together on the
Lucas horizontal boring mill machine.3/14/01 |
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The machining of the main bench on several sides had been
completed as of 3/14/01. The next process would be machining out some side cavities. |
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A good view of the main bench showing the 3-dimensional
machining of curved surfaces, 3/14/01. |
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Machining of the main bench continued in the week of
3/20/01. Here the main bench is back on the Hurco having some side pockets
machined by the right-angle head attachment. |
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The side pocket machining of the main bench with the right
angle head on the Hurco, 3/20/01. |
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A close-up view of the right-angle head of the Hurco,
3/20/01. |
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Bearing races 6/01 |
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The main bench undergoing the last rough machining on the
big Hurco. 4/10/01 |
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Randy Bennett with the main bench on the Hurco, 4/10/01.
This is the final rough-machining on the bench. |
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Pickoff mirror housing, 6/01 |
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Grating Turret Drive 6/01
(No, it's not the infamous "noisy cricket.") |
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Prism Turret Drive 6/01 |
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Pre-Slit Bench Aft Housing 6/01 |
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Lower Slit Slide Rail 6/01 |
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Tangent Support Bar Bracket 6/01 |
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Top Camera Cover 6/01 |
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Slit Slide Assembly 6/01 |
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Offner Assembly 6/01 |
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Exit Fold Mirror Housing on top of the Pre-Slit Bench
Assembly 7/01 |
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Prism Turret Hub Assembly7/01 |
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Top Bench Hogout with the Prism Turret and Camera Turret installed for the first time.
7/01 |
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Another view of the Prism Turret and Camera Turret on the
bench. 7/01 |
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The main bench mounted on the handling cart. 7/01 |
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Al Davis inspecting the Collimator Gimbal Mount Ring 8/01. |
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The Optical Bench Housings on the handling cart 8/01. |
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The Optical Bench Housings with proud team members (from
left to right) Al Davis, Randy Bennett, Dick Joyce, Gary Muller, Jay
Elias. 8/01 |
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Bulkhead update photo from Bechdon. 10/18/01 |
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Another view of the bulkhead at Bechdon.. 10/18/01 |
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Photo of rear bulkhead at Bechdon. 10/18/01 |
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Part of the forward dewar shell at Bechdon. 10/18/01 |
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Forward portion of the aft dewar shell at Bechdon. 10/18/01 |
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The entire bulkhead assembly, with dewar shells, at Bechdon.
11/07/01 |
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Another view of the bulkhead assembly with dewar shells at
Bechdon. 11/07/01 |
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The bulkhead assembly with dewar shells being vacuum tested
at Bechdon. 11/07/01 |
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The aft dewar shell with clearcoat at Bechdon. 11/29/01 |
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The forward dewar shell after clearcoating at Bechdon.
11/29/01 |
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Close up of the forward dewar shell with clearcoat at
Bechdon. 11/29/01 |
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Bulkhead painted at Bechdon. 11/29/01 |
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Painted bulkhead from the opposite side at Bechdon. 11/29/01 |
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Close up detail of the painted bulkhead at Bechdon. 11/29/01 |
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Overall view of the OIWFS with the assemblies installed. The flat mirror and
alignment telescope were used for the optical alignment. 12/03/01 |
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View of the OIWFS with the assemblies installed, cabled up for testing of
the mechanisms. 12/03/01
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Christmas came early! The aft bulkhead received from Bechdon
and uncrated at NOAO on 12/04/01. |
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The aft bulkhead with GNIRS team members Eric Downey, Ed
Hileman, Al Davis and Mark Trueblood. 12/04/01 |
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Overall view of the OIWFS with the assemblies installed. The flat mirror and
alignment telescope were used for the optical alignment. 12/03/01 |
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View of the OIWFS with the assemblies installed, cabled up for testing of
the mechanisms. 12/03/01
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Christmas came early! The aft bulkhead received from Bechdon
and uncrated at NOAO on 12/04/01. |
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The aft bulkhead with GNIRS team members Eric Downey, Ed
Hileman, Al Davis and Mark Trueblood. 12/04/01 |
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Overall view of the OIWFS with the assemblies installed. The flat mirror and
alignment telescope were used for the optical alignment. 12/03/01 |
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View of the OIWFS with the assemblies installed, cabled up for testing of
the mechanisms. 12/03/01
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Christmas came early! The aft bulkhead received from Bechdon
and uncrated at NOAO on 12/04/01. |
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The aft bulkhead with GNIRS team members Eric Downey, Ed
Hileman, Al Davis and Mark Trueblood. 12/04/01 |
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The forward bulkhead is uncrated by GNIRS team member Ron
Harris in NOAO's instrument shop. 12/04/01 |
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Ed Hileman and Eric Downey help Ron Harris attach the
forward bulkhead to the crane to lift it out of its shipping container.
12/04/01 |
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The forward bulkhead being lifted out of the shipping
container with lots of support from team members. From left to right, Neil
Gaughan, Ed Hileman, Mark Trueblood (front), Ron Harris (back), Gary
Muller, Eric Downey and Dan Eklund. 12/04/01 |
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Project Manager Neil Gaughan with his new toy, the forward
bulkhead, newly delivered from Bechdon. 12/04/01 |
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Tangent bars and Collimator Gimbal Mount Ring assembled
inside bulkhead. 12/4/01 |
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Al Davis and Gary Muller prepare to connect the forward
bulkhead to the aft bulkhead. 12/4/01 |
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Gary Muller and Al Davis hoisting the forward bulkhead to
align with the aft bulkhead on the handling cart. 12/4/01 |
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Al Davis and Gary Muller aligning the two bulkheads. 12/4/01 |
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Gary Muller with bulkheads attached to forward dewar shell.
12/4/01 |
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Ed Hileman with fully assembled bulkheads and dewar shells.
12/4/01 |
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Gary Muller with fully assembled bulkheads and dewar shells,
with Thermal Enclosure trusses attached. An outstanding engineering and
design effort made for a flawless fit. 12/4/01 |
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Fully assembled bulkheads, dewar shells and trusses. The fit
check went perfectly, with no rework required. 12/5/01 |
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Senior Engineer Gary Muller with the fully assembled
bulkheads and dewar shells, now in a vertical position. The assembly rests
on the handling cart. 12-12-01 |
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Gary Muller and Instrument Shop Supervisor, Roger Repp, with
full outer assembly. 12-12-01 |
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Fully assembled outer assembly of GNIRS, including
bulkheads, dewar shells, thermal enclosure trusses and "feet."
12-12-01 |
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Project Scientist Dick Joyce and Senior Designer John Andrew
with full outer assembly. 12-12-01 |
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The complete foreoptics assembly (Offner plus input and output fold mirrors) being tested in the optical shop for image quality.
12-14-01
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After a successful Quarterly Review on 1-24-02, the GNIRS
team took NSF member Dan Weedman to the clean room where he could see
several of the cleaned mechanisms on display. |
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Dan had the benefit of having his questions answered by the
resident experts on GNIRS. Left to right, Ron George and Mark Hinten
(behind clean room), Jay Elias, Bill Ditsler, Dan Eklund, Mark Trueblood,
Dan Weedman (Gary Muller behind) and Neil Gaughan. |
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The camera turret on display in the clean room, clean and
ready to go. 1-24-02 |
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Peter Ruckle had the filter wheel and the test dewar hooked
up to computers and demonstrated how the software moved the mechanisms.
1-24-02 |
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Several of the cleaned mechanism parts on display in the
clean room. 1-24-02 |
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The test dewar on display in the clean room. 1-24-02 |
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The front truss fit check with the bulkhead. 2-06-02
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Ron George works in the "soft" clean room testing
the prism turret. 2-26-02 |
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Project Scientist Jay Elias inspects the camera alignment on
the optical bench. |
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Ming Liang, Gary Poczulp and Al Camacho await test
results. |
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The active radiation shields at the vendor, Ramsey &
Sons, on 4/02, ready to ship. |
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Active shields, 4/02. |
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A front view of GNIRS bench with preslit bench and
OIWFS installed; Ron George is working on wiring to cold stations on the active shield. 6/02
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Starboard bow view of GNIRS bench showing cold
stations on the active shield. 6/02 |
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Close up view of focus stage and detector mount with wiring
in progress. 6/02 |
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Aft starboard view of GNIRS bench showing OIWFS and
associated wiring. 6/02 |
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Aft view of GNIRS bench from collimator location. 6/02 |
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Port bow view of GNIRS bench. 6/02 |
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If you have any questions or suggestions regarding this website, please contact
Melissa Bowersock.
National Optical Astronomy Observatories,
950 North Cherry Avenue, P.O. Box 26732, Tucson, Arizona 85726,
Phone: (520) 318-8000, Fax: (520) 318-8360
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