Month: October 2020

This week has been full of reassembling the pressure housings. It’s been a little stop and go because we need some parts to work on one thing so that’s delayed, then this one needs to be tested first so bump that up, this part isn’t finished yet so push that back. Some of the waiting was so I could get work instructions on how to assemble the pieces. Specifically with the vacuum ports that were just added. Adding a vacuum port allows the pressure housing to be sealed without air trying to push the end caps off. In the one housing that was assembled this week, it was a bit of an experiment working with the vacuum port. Trying to get it assembled and see how long the pump takes to draw the air down. So we stood around and watched the pump go. Thrilling times.

The pressure housings have all been returned and I was able to verify them all! Everything went very well; only one piece will need to be sent back to be readjusted. For each adjustment that the machine shop made, I had to verify. This means that I had the part drawings and a set of calipers and I measured the parts to ensure they were within the tolerance. With the through holes, I was able to fit check by test installing the pieces, whether it be a vacuum port or a fiber optic connector.

I’ve also been continuing to work on the wire inventory. It’s amazing how many pieces of wire there can be on one box. And there are several boxes. At this point I’m about halfway done and hopefully will be finished up early next week.

The pressure housings have been moving back and forth between the lab and the machine shop again this week so I’ve gotten more of a workout. Once they’re finally all back I’ll be able to start verifying them. The verification is to ensure that the parts have been machined in accordance to the drawings. The machine shop also finished with the vacuum ports so I can fit check those once the end caps come back.

I’ve started working on taking inventory of all the wire. It’s certainly taking longer than I thought it would since what is written on one document may be different than what is written on another document which both may be different from what is actually labeled on the wire. Once it’s all sorted out though there will be a nice wire list. Some of the wires are being replaced so we need a list of what kind of wire is connected where. That way it’ll be easy to look at the list and say ‘we need to replace this type and it’s used in these locations’.

Though no longer on the sub, these are some of the wires I am taking inventory of. And yes, they still look like that.

I finished soldering my circuit boards! I made two so that they can be hooked up to each other and tested. Working on the boards was an effort since the components are tiny but working under a microscope certainly made it easier. After finishing up with the soldering, we tried testing the boards. So far it isn’t working but I think it’s a problem with the headphones we’re using and not the boards.

Outside of soldering, I’m still working with the pressure housings. I’ve definitely gotten my steps in walking up and down the stairs from the lab to the machine shop carrying the chunks of titanium. But the good news is that the work is getting done quickly so the housings can be reassembled and pressure tested.

My microscope soldering station

One of the resistors

My finished circuit boards

This week I’ve been working with the pressure housings more. These are the same pressure housings that I had disassembled and inspected earlier this year. There are almost 60 pieces that need various changes from adding new ports, re-boring previous ports, and surface cleaning. My job is to bring the components to the machine shop, ensure each one has the correct work completed on it, and bring it back to the lab. 

I’ve also been doing some soldering this week. I might be soldering some of the penetrators (which I’ve written about before, each penetrator has 132 wires, there are 8 penetrators, for a total of 1,056 wires to be soldered). I received the components needed for my circuit board. The difference with the circuit board is that the components are surface mount, so the soldering style will be different from penetrator which is soldering wires into a solder cup.

My circuit board! (Currently unpopulated)

One side of one of the penetrators I might be soldering. Hand for scale.