Production

[Tom Droege <droege@wwa.com>]

This morning I finished putting together cameras N7 and N8.  Well, just the
eleectronics and CCD part.  I still have to mount the shutter and put on
the filter housing.  

They just worked.  In fact they look better than most previous cameras.
This makes a total of 12 cameras that work one way or another.  Most have
to be brought up to date with all the changes.  Some of them need to have
their TECs replaced.  I hope that I have learned not to break the TECs.  I
have 3 more CCD chips, and many partially assembled camera heads.  I will
just keep working until I get 15 lined up in a row all working.

They discontinued the little model airplane servo motor that I use for the
shutter.  The replacement is not as fast (but cheaper).  It will take about
0.2 seconds to open the shutter.  Routine production problems.  

I am still having coolant leak problems.  Another half gallon of
anti-freeze mixture in the walls of my house.  ;^(   The present plan is to
move the pump and resevoir out on the porch to minimize the places where a
leak gets into the house.  

I saw a PBS show the other day on high rise management.  They were talking
about how they managed water leaks.  I recall they were pointing out that
when something leaked you wanted to guide the flood down the stair well
instead of letting it go down the elevator shafts where it would cause more
problems.  There was never a question of whether there would be flood
problems, it was only a question of how they were managed.

So those of you that are planning to get telescopes should think about how
to manage the leaks.  ;^)

Tom Droege