IMACS progress report no. 24 B. Bigelow 5 April 2000 1) Project Status Currently scheduled tasks: Status: a) Filter server fabrication ahead of schedule b) Disperser server design (Bond) on schedule c) Shutter fabrication (Storts) late start d) CF guider mech. design (Hare) late start e) Mask server fab. (Kowal) late start f) Collimator mech. design (Bigelow) late g) Long camera mech. design (Bigelow) late start h) Dewar fab. (Luppino) on schedule i) Science array controller fab (Burley) late j) Motion control electr. fab (Carr/Berger) on schedule k) Control software design (Birk) on schedule Details: c) Late availability of Storts delayed start. e) Mask server fab delayed by early start of FSS fab. f) Coll. design running about 1 month late g) Lcam design will follow completion of Coll. design i) Controller design is running 2+ months late Other project events: A temporary assembly technician has been hired through Manpower. His name is Richard Guererro, and he has about 15 years of electronic, mechanical, and optical assembly experience. His first task will be the assembly of the filter server systems, followed by the shutters and the slit mask server. If all goes well, he will help with the assembly and operation of the CCD alignment hardware (motion stages and Keyence sensor), and later with the assembly of the collimator test cell. The job shop with the contract for fabrication of our slit masks notified us that they are going out of business. As this shop, Advanced Metal Fabrication, was the only shop that met the mask specifications, their closure means a probably re-bid for the mask fabrication. Brian, Bruce, and Vince attended the Westec machine tool show at the LA convention center. Brian and Bruce visited Newport Thin Films, where the MIKE optics are being AR coated. They promised us some coating designs to compare with existing coating proposals. We passed a milestone in early March, when Christoph successfully operated the filter server motion stage with our prototype electronics, the IMACS motion control computer, and Christoph's software. The project schedule was revised and reorganized to bring the projected completion date back to Dec. 2001. This was accomplished by changing some project tasks from serial to parallel execution, and by adding additional technician manpower. 2) Optics (Sutin) 2.1) The 600 l/mm (red) grating has arrived. 2.2) Two of the three CaF2 boules for the short camera have arrived. Several large boxes were purchased from C&H for storage. 2.3) The CaF2 boule for L05 was not round (probably slipped on the generating machine vacuum chuck), and has been sent back to Optovac for another whirl. 2.4) The collimator optics are either all done or almost so. We plan to have them shipped here and to organize a partial payment to TORC. 2.5) The center field/long slit guider optics have been designed. Parts were ordered from Edmund Scientific to make a test setup, but have not yet arrived. 2.6) The coating situation is up in the air, since the wavelength passband is in flux. A coatings consultant, Phil Baumeister, will consider the IR wavelength extension problem. 2.7) We are negotiating with Raytheon over a contract to make the short camera aspheres. Apparently ours are more difficult than the BINOSPEC aspheres, and require some research effort. Optics TODO List: 1) Coatings, again 2) Baffle analysis 3) TV Camera designs 4) Filters 5) Asphere fabrication 6) Test graphite-epoxy baffle material for lint 3) Electronics (Carr) No report this month. 4) Software (Birk) The 'filter-changer' stage (stepper-motor linear motion stage) is under full control of a test-GUI. I can set speed, acceleration, # of steps, etc. The limit-switches and the fiducial (home) work fine. So does the encoder. During most of April I will be at LCO (WFIRC) but I plan to move the entire filter stage (incl. insert-mechanism) by the end of April. 5) Mechanics Tim: Tyson: No reports this month. Tim and Tyson attended the SPIE telescope conference in Munich at the end of March, and visited the UK ATC in Edinburgh to see the GMOS instrument in the first week of April. Bruce: 1) Revision of the slit mask server drawing package (all new part numbers and consistent part naming) was completed in March. 2) The quotation process for the collimator test cell mechanics was completed and a contract was let to BNL precision machining in Westlake Village. 3) Final design of the collimator mechanics started in mid-March. Design will continue through April. Planned for this month: - Delivery of the flex cell prototype parts - Collimator cell / barrel design - Dewar testing? Gerry Luppino: 1) XYZ flexure stage framework is complete. Now I am awaiting details like the counterweight material (powdered metallurgy tungsten -- heavy stuff!), etc. 2) A mistake was discovered in the location of the mounting holes for the SITe devices -- luckily before any critical parts were made. The drawings for the sub-packages and alignment jig have been corrected and the sub-packages are out for fab now. Due in a few weeks. 3) Parts for the Z-drive are in hand and fabrication has begun. Should be ready in a few weeks (maybe by next month's report?). The SS parts that need to be welded to the SS bellows will go to the e-beam welder in about 2 weeks. 4) The camera body and side panels are out being made now. It was decided that the easiest way to mount the sensors to test flexure would be to use the camera body as a rigid test structure, so the order for this package was received and the fab started. The parts are due here in about 2 weeks. 5) Once the camera body parts arrive, I will rig a test fixture for flexure testing and we can schedule a visit for Bruce to come out and (ahem) work with me on testing the flexure (or ideally, the lack thereof). 6) Detector Systems (Thompson/Burley) Guider cameras ------------- 1 - IT and GB are tracing some noise issues with the preamps and power supplies. There is a residual pattern noise that we are trying to trace. Mosaic camera ------------- 2 - almost all of the parts are on order now, including the ADCs, hermetic connectors, semiconductors and passive components. The longest lead-time items are the ADCs, with delivery in Sept. We plan to borrow some in the meantime so our testing won't be held up. 3 - all of the mosaic camera circuit boards (excluding the preamps) have been fabricated and delivered. 7) Meeting notes: Next IMACS meeting: 10:15, Weds. 4/26/00, new conf. room. Progress reports included above. Dressler's notes for the April 5th IMACS meeting. Vince: All the parts for the filter server are now done. Finishing the frames for the filters. Then latches. Then moving on to the mask server, sometime week of the 10th. Jury duty starting on the 17th. Robert: Working on the shutter assembly. 9 parts to go. Looking into getting the delrin for the slides. A week's worth of parts to go. Two or three weeks until shutter is done. No use of the Haas machine for a couple of weeks. Training course for Robert to use the Haas? Brian: All gratings ordered. Boules for CaF arrived. Boxes need to be sent back -- new cases have been purchased. CaF boule for long camera was not round -- sent back to Optovac for regenerating. Collimator optics finished/near finished. Make arrangements to deliver. Guide camera optics revised -- need two acromats to achieve mechanical clearance. Optical parts/bench for test ordered from Edmund. Discussed coatings with Newport, Spectrum Thin Films (cold coatings on CaF). Phil Baumeister (independent consultant) will consider IR extension problem. Opened discussion with Raytheon for aspheres. IMACS aspheres are nastier than Binospec. They can't meet 1/4 wave for our aspheres. Talking with Terry Facey about development of that kind of testing accuracy. Brian will see whether this spec is required or can be relaxed or respecified as a function of radius Make a test demonstration of baffles of fins in graphite epoxy. Are they clean cuts or will they shed the little hairs on the edges? Ian and Greg: Proceed with a single 2K x 4K chip in a dewar, a prototype for the MIKE dewar. Need saddlebags, dewar, populate one set of boards, but need to settle the noise issue first. Greg notes that the switching power supply may not be the culprit. No reliable estimate when the test dewar will be ready, but sometime in the end of the summer is the guess. Also, need a machinist to do the saddlebags. Once the test camera is done, no new development to single chip cameras. Multiple chip cameras require alignment and programming issues that have yet to be addressed. Ten-minute discussion of possible software issues related to reading out the multi-chip cameras, for example, binning modes and sub-rasters. No reason not to get Christoph working on this as soon as he has time. Francois, who attended, asked about the state of the short camera, and wanted a description/reference for Sol-gel.