More Progress as Usual

[Tom Droege <droege@wwa.com>]

Progress seems to go both directions.  ;^)

It turns out that the Lockheed chip with the Nitrogen fill also includes 4 
TECs in the case.  When I asked how much it would cost, I was told that 
they would give it to me at the same price.  There is no figuring out 
Lockheed.  It might have been nice if designed in from the start, but I do 
not want to cope with something completely new at this stage.  They are 
only one stage TECs, so it might be a problem to get the heat away through 
the present two stage unit.  More stages in a TEC stack sometimes 
lose.   My hope is that I will get the 10 chips on order and that will be 
enough.  This will give me a total of about 20.  This will be enough for 10 
dual system.  I know that I have 40 lenses, but just might not use them 
all.  I guess that I can always market the extras on eBay.

I got advice from someone who has credentials as a real expert that NASA 
often has ice problems with dry Nitrogen filled chips.  If NASA cannot get 
it right with all the control steps that they take, I don't think I want to 
count on Lockheed to get it right when most of their staff have left.  Some 
even hired away by my "expert".

So I think I have a good solution and will stick with it.

I put together a camera head with the new spacer ring, took reasonable care 
in greasing up the "O" ring, and it held vacuum for as long as I was 
willing to sit and watch the gage.  Not very long but better than most 
previous attempts.

The way the tubing works, one could circulate dry Argon or Nitrogen through 
the camera head and then just open up the connectors.  They automatically 
seal with "O" rings, and they seem to hold vacuum for a long time.  So if 
you want, you can seal your cameras with the gas of your choice.

The builder is here to install the dome.  But first he is working on the 
leaks in the flat roof.  My advice:  Never build a roof that the builder 
has not built many times before.

Dan and I tore ARNE apart and I made an improvement in the Declination 
drive.  I pinned the drive gear to the shaft.  Previously it could 
slip.  We had a real time getting it apart.  Then putting it together I 
remembered the secret of the Chinese puzzle.  One just has to assemble the 
pieces in the right order.  One also has to remember which way the balance 
works.

Everything is now working on the set of boards I am going to send to 
Chris.  I just have to get a second set working before mailing it off.  I 
like to keep one good set.  It is a real pain to troubleshoot when there 
are multiple problems on multiple boards.

I continue to take data every clear night.  The data looks just like Disk 
15.  If that is good enough to do science, then we can do it.  I have 42 or 
so CD ROMs at last count.

Everything seems to be coming together.  But I have not yet set the 
schedule to go to AZ.

Tom Droege