This afternoon I epoxied the guiderod and wire standoff to the new PRM. I also epoxied the magnets that Suresh picked out to the dumbbell standoffs. We'll let them all cure over the weekend, and then I'll glue the magnets to the optic on ~Monday.
Notes about the epoxy:
Previously, we had been using the "AN-1" epoxy, which is gray, with a clear hardener. Bob recommended we switch to "30-2", which is clear with clear, and has been chosen for use in aLIGO. Both were vacuum approved, but the 30-2 has gone through ~2 months of testing at the OTF (Optics Test Facility?) over in Downs under vacuum, to check the level of outgassing (or really, non-outgassing).
The 30-2 is less viscous than the AN-1, and it takes less glue to do the same job, so we should keep that in mind when applying the epoxy. When I put the glue next to the guiderod and standoff, it got wicked along the length of each rod, which is good. I can't reach the whole length of the rod with my glue applicator because the fixture holding them in place blocks access, so the wicking is pretty handy.
I've also added the updated version of my Status Table for the suspensions. |