Tried to implement AGC on FE. Had some trouble bringing the code into the correct form. It looks okay now. However, this agc code as well as idenntity code (input = output) doesnt seem to build on the c1lsc FE. Have not tried too many debugging steps yet, will come and check the problem tomorrow. 

-Varun

Summary: I am implementing digital audio filtering on various interferometer signals in order to listen to the processed audio which will help in characterizing and noise reduction in the interferometer. Following is an implementation of an Automatic Gain control (AGC) block on an LSC input signal.

Details of AGC: Currently, the AGC code implemented on FE takes input to fill a frame, then calculates the power in each frame and gives an appropriate gain to it, so that the new power content is to the required level. It is then written to the output, frame by frame. The frame is currently a rectangular window. The frame length and hop size can be adjusted. Current values are as follows:

frame length is 512 samples

hop length is 128 samples.

The input and output are delayed by 1 frame.

Details of testing: Attachment 1 shows a simulink diagram of the DAF system. Eric made this and I modified it later on. Testing was done using signal from the "LSC1" channel. Attachments 2 and 3 show aquired input and output of the AGC respectively. Gain of the preamp of the LSC input signal was varied over a total time span of 200 s. Each gain value was kept for a duration of about 20 seconds. The varying power levels can be seen in the input plot.

The output shows a uniform power level throughout.

Me and Gautam yesterday opened the tilt-free seismometer enclosure to see if we could use the thermocouples and
other things previously used by Megan. But we are planning to get new four-wire RTDs for our work.
For the next day or two, I will be trying to set up Acromag Busworks terminal so that the data logging during
this enclosure development experiment becomes perfect and easy. Johannes has sent me the wiki page URL for the same.

Today I tried to setup Acromag Busworks card. I was able to calibrate and test it over USB but I couldn't test it over ethernet. I'll utilize a few hours tomorrow to test it over ethernet and see if I can make it work. I have also found a few RTDs which I want to use for temperature sensing via four probe method. So, tomorrow I'll get these RTD details revived by Gautam and Steve.

I was wondering if we have a basic DAQ card with maybe 4 channels which is simple to setup like NI DAQ cards.

About acquiring data: Initially I couldn't start with proper Acromag setup as the Raspberry pi had a faulty SD card slot. Then Gautam gave me a working pi on which I tried to install EPICS. I spent quite a time today but couldn't setup acromag over ethernet.  But, it would be great if we have a USB DAQ card. I have found a good one here http://www.mccdaq.com/PDFs/specs/USB-200-Series-data.pdf It costs around 106$ including shipping (It comes with some free softwares for acquiring data) . Also, I know an another python based 12bit DAQ card (with an inbuilt constant current source) which is made by IUAC, Delhi and more information can be found here http://www.iuac.res.in/~elab/expeyes/Documents/eyesj-progman.pdf  It costs around 60$ including shipping.

About temperature sensing: The RTD which I found on Omega's list is having a temperature resolution of 0.1 deg C. I have also asked them for the one with good resolution. Also according to their reply, they have not performed any noise characteristics study for those RTDs.

 

We generally want to keep the configuration of the 40m close to that of the LIGO sites, which is why we chose BusWorks, and it is also being established as a standard in other labs on campus. Of course any suitable DAQ system can do the job, but to stay relevant we generally try to avoid patchwork solutions when possible. Did you follow Aidan's instructions to the book? I haven't set up a system myself, yet, so I cannot say how difficult this is. If it just won't work with the Raspberry Pi, you could still try using a traditional computer.

Alternatively, following Jamie's suggestions, I'm currently looking into using python for the modbus communications (there seem to be at least a few python packages that can do this), which would reportedly make the interfacing and integration a lot easier. I'll let you know when I make any progress on this.

PSL, BS, ITMY and ETMX the illuminators were left on over night.

I spent some time this afternoon reviving some of my CESAR/ESCOBAR shenanigans on the Y arm. I found it neccesary to adjust a few things.

• PMC realigned 
• ETMY oplev centered
• Y End green realigned
• PSL/Y Green beat realigned

Afterwards, ALSY noise levels were good. 

I got some QPR Nitrile gloves. They are LIGO approved.White nitrile gloves are naturally anti-static- 10⁹ ohms

Their touch not as good as laytex  gloves but try to use them.

Set up gwsumm on optimus and generated summary pages from both L1 and C1 data. Still a few manual steps need to be taken during generation, not fully automated due to some network/username issues. nds2 now working from optimus after restarting nds2 server.

Found 1 out of 2 bluebird microphones in the 40m.

Found 60 EM172 microphones. Previous elog with details: 7777.

The existing enclosure for seismometer at LIGO 40m lab is a cylindrical stainless steel can placed upside down over the seismometer. It has more empty space between the seismometer and the internal surface of enclosure which is not desirable(I'll quantitatively elaborate this statement once my temperature measuring setup is ready).

Stainless steel has a thermal conductivity in the range of 16.3 to 16.7 W/m/K and magnetic permeability 1.260e-6 H/m.Assuming an ambient temperature 298K, and the temperature inside the enclosure as 295K, as well as substituting all the values for dimesions and material properties of existing enclosure,
k=16.4 W/mK, μ=1.260e-6 H/m, L=2ft=0.6096m, b=r2 =0.5ft=0.1524m, thickness=5mm, a=r1 =0.1474m.
So by using the textbook relations(I have mentioned them in my report), the value of attenuation coefficient is 5.953584e-05 and the value of rate of heat transfer= 5.64913 kW. The attenuation coefficient value is quite better for steel but proper care needs to be taken to avoid heat transfer. For studying the variation of rate of heat transfer and attenuation with the thickness of enclosure material, I have plotted the following attached graphs for different materials which include hardened stainless steel, aluminium, pure iron and nanoperm-muMetal.

About Data Acquisation

I have already invested a lot of time to configure and use acromag busworks card over ethernet. So now I have made an arrangement to measure temperature by AD592CNZ temperature transducer IC. I would be using raspberry pi for acquiring data untill I figure out a way to use acromag busworks card for the same. This setup of acquiring logging temperature using raspberry pi is mostly ready except the calibration part.

I have taken out the heaters and temperature sensors from the enclosure which was made by Megan last summer. Soon I will test and configure those heaters.

I have updated the vent prep checklist on the wiki. Gautam and I did the following things from it:

• Center all oplevs, transmon QPDs 
  • ETMX oplev has not been centered, since it's moving around so much, and we're going to immediately move the suspension anyways.
• Align the arm cavities for IR and align the green lasers to the arms. 
  • AUX X Green was aligned while the X arm was well aligned. Soon thereafter, ETMX wandered away, but the green will remain a good reference
• Update the SUS Dritmon values 
• Reconcile all SDF differences 

• Reduce input power to no more than 100mW by adjusting wave plate+PBS setup on the PSL table BEFORE the PMC. (Using the WP + PBS that already exist after the laser.) 

• Replace 10% BS before MC REFL PD with Y1 mirror and lock MC at low power.
  • I don't think we've vented since the most recent slew of changes to the IMC servo, so its not surprising that the current low power scripts don't work. I'm working on locking the IMC, but this does not prevent us from initiating the vent tomorrow.

The following bullets have not yet been executed:

• Close shutter of PSL-IR and green shutters at the ends 
• Make sure the jam nuts are protecting bellows 

• Check crane functionality & cleanliness 

• Turn off HV into vacuum: OMC is not wired this time 
• Particle count must be under 10,000 counts / cf min for 0.5 micron 
• Check all metal window covers are on. 
• Check 5 cylinders (24 cft size) of instrument grade air, called Alfa Gas 1 in stock.

Steve has ordered some teflon parts to take the place of the metal parts in his acetone-soaking jig. They should arrive tomorrow. 

So, we will be begin the venting process tomorrow. Doors to come off on Tuesday.

I have transferred most of the temperature measurement stuff from the front area to seismometer at the end of Y-arm.  While arranging the components I have taken all care that they will not interfere with existing system. Also, I have temporarily taken a monitor from the front area to the area near same seismometer as I couldn't talk to Rpi via ssh. For next twelve hours, I am now recording temperature inside as well as outside the seismometer enclosure. Some temperature sensors are inside the enclosure while some are outside the seismometer enclosure.

Here are some plans / rough procedures for this week's vent. It is unlikely that I have though of everything, but this should be a reasonable starting point.

The mode cleaner still hasn't been locked in air, we may not want to touch the Y arm optics until we are able to lock to the Y arm and dither align, so we are sure to keep the input pointing from drifting away too much.

Primary objectives:

• Re-suspend ETMX
• First contact of all arm cavity optics

Secondary objectives:

• Install new gauges
• Replace 40mm baffles with 50mm baffles
• Check cleanliness of inner viewport surfaces

ETMX project

• Open ETMX chamber
• Take all manner of photos of ETMX suspension in-situ
  • If some kind of obvious issue is evident, fix it, proceed accordingly
• Mark suspension position
• Move suspension to edge of the table, more pictures + inspection
• Move suspension to flow bench, remove optic
• Transport optic to clean room
• Acetone soaking / standoff removal
• Re-glue side magnet
• Re-glue guide rod + standoff
• OSEM transplant from old to new suspension
• Suspend, following SOS suspension procedure
• Drive optic around, see if jumps are evident
• Clean with first contact
• Reinstall optic, align, etc.

Optic cleaning

For $optic in [ITMX, ITMY, ETMY]:

• Open chamber
• Take many, many pictures
• Mark suspension position
• move suspension to edge, take pictures of HR surfaces
• Mark OSEM orientation, remove oems
• Clean AR and HR surfaces with first contact
• Reinstall OSEMS at proper position, rotate to minimize bounce/roll coupling
• Reinstall optic, align, etc.

Rough summary of today's progress:

• IMC locked, reasonably aligned. (Only have MC2 trans reference, no WFS)
  • FSS Slow lock threshold got lowered to 1k MC2 trans
  • Autolocker doesn't really work, though I made some modifcations to it that reflect the manual locking that works
• TTs, PRMI optics moved around until AS and REFL spots looked good. 
  • Small flashes visible in TRY
  • ND filter on Y transmon QPD removed, since we have so little light
• Y arm was not locked, but this was deemed suitable to proceed
• Heavy doors taken off ETMX and ITMX chambers, light doors put on.
• Went into ETMX chamber, poked around, took a bunch of pictures (Gautam is uploading has uploaded to picasa (foteee account), the two best ones of the stand-offs on either side are attached, although I guess we can't really conclude anything from these except that on the side with the OSEM, there seems to be a few extra stray bits of epoxy residue...)
• Removed ETMX side OSEM to get a picture of that side of optic (it is currently off, ETMX watchdog shutdown for now...)
• Checked that table is level with clean spirit level (it was to within the resolution of the spirit level which is quoted as 0.42mm/m)

I didn't really see anything out of the ordinary on the ETMX suspension. Earthquake stops had clearance, OSEMS were secure, no visible glue degredation on face magnets. Inspection with green LED flashlight didn't reveal any obscene dirtieness on either face, just a few particles here and there. The top of the opic barrel unsurprisingly has a good amount of particulate. The wire grooves are way too small to resolve anything at this point, other than that they exist.

The suspension footprint is already marked, tomorrow we can move the suspension closer to the door to get an even closer look at it, before removing it from the chamber. 

I'd suggest clamping and moving it to the flow bench so you can inspect with a bright light. Then remove the wire and inspect the standoff, but hurry up with getting it in the soak bath so you can start on the cleaning of the other ones.

I wonder if we're really sure that its a mechanical problem with ETMX.

Gautam tells me that the local damping was always ON when looking for the jumps. This means that the coil driver was still hooked up and we can't rule out glitches in the DAC or the coil driver.

The UL OSEM shows the biggest movement (10 microns). The LR shows the second most (6-7 microns). The others are 2x less. So its consistent with a voltage change on UL,

Is this consistent with a slip in one of the wire standoffs? I think no.

One glitch was seen to occur without a change in the output voltage monitors in ELOG 11744

With Koji's help, I've hacked together an arrangement that will allow us to monitor the output of the coil driver to the UL coil. 

The arrangement consists of a short custom ribbon cable with female DB25 connectors on both ends - the particular wire sending the signal to the UL coil has a 100 ohm resistor wired in series, because the coil has resistance ~20ohm, and the output of the coil driver board has a series 200(?) ohm resistor, so by directly monitoring the voltage at this point, we may not see a glitch as it may register too small. Tangentially related: the schematic of the coil driver board suggests that the buffered output monitor has a gain of 0.5. 

To monitor the voltage, I use the board to which the 4 Oplev signals are currently hooked up. Channel 7 on this particular board (corresponding to ADC channel 30 on c1scx) was conveniently wired up for some prior test, so I used this channel. Then, I modified the C1SCX model to add a testpoint to monitor the output of this ADC. Then, I turned OFF the input on the coil output filter for the UL Coil (i.e. C1:SUS-ETMX_ULCOIL_SW1) so that we can send a known, controlled signal to the UL Coil by means of awggui. Next, I added an excitation at 5 Hz, amplitude 20 counts (as the signal to the coil under normal conditions was approximately of this amplitude) to the excitation channel of the same filter module, which is the state I am leaving the setup in for the night. I have confirmed that I see this 5Hz oscillation on the monitor channel I set up. Oddly, the 0 crossings of the oscillations happen at approximately -1000 counts and not at 0 counts. I wonder where this offset is coming from? The two points I am monitoring the voltage across is shown in the attached photograph - the black clip is connected to the lead carrying the return signal from the coil.

I also wanted to set up a math block in the model itself that monitors, in addition to the raw ADC channel, a copy from which the known applied signal has been cancelled, as presumably a glitch would be more obvious in such a record. However, I was unable to access the excitation channel to the ULCOIL filter from within the SCX model. So I am just recording the raw output for tonight...

Yesterday Q noticed that PRM_sensor_LR was 0.098V  This actually went to ~ zero on 7-3

I am using AD592CNZ temperature transducer ICs for measuring temperature inside as well as outside the enclosure. It is a  current output IC which outputs current proportional to temperature. As mentioned in the data sheet of AD592, I am using the following two schematics:

Though I still need to calibrate these temperature transducers, I did some measurements. I have temperature readings, and now my goal in few days is to find a transfer function of temperature fluctuations inside the enclosure to outside the enclosure.

About data acquisition:

We have re-configured the raspberry pi(B8:27:EB:70:D0:D8) on martian network. It's new ip address is 192.168.113.107(domenica.martian). Also, we have added the Acromag Busworks card(00:01:C3:00:9F:C8) on the martian network and its ip address is 192.168.113.237(acroey.martian).   

I wanted to know what this Vmon exactly is. D010001 is telling us that the Vmon channels are HPFed with fc=30Hz (Attachment 1). Is this true?

I checked the quiscent noise spectrum of the ITMX UL coil output (C1:SUS-ITMX_ULCOIL_OUT) and the corresponding VMON (C1:SUS-ITMX_ULVmon). (Attachment 2 Ref curves). I did not find any good coherence. So the nominal quiscent Vmon output is carrying no useful information. 

Question: How much do we need to excite the coil output in order to see any meaningful signal?

As I excite the ITMX UL coil (C1:SUS-ITMX_ULCOIL_EXC) with uniform noise of 100-300 counts below 0.3Hz, I eventually could see the increase of the power spectrum and the coherence (Attachment 2). Below 0.1 Hz the coherence was ~1 and the transfer function was measured to be -75dB and flat. But wait, why is the transfer function flat?

In fact, if I inject broadband noise to the coil, I could increase the coil output and Vmon at the same time without gaining the coherence. (Attachment 3). After some more investigation, I suspect that this HPF is diabled (= bypassed) and aliasing of the high freq signal is causing the noise in Vmon.

In order to check this hypothesis, we need to visit the board.

Circuit1: It is nice to receive the voltage across the transimpedance resistor with a high impedance buffer (or amplifier), as close to the resister as possible. This amplifier needs to have low numbers for input bias current, input offset current, and input current noise. These current noise becomes the noise of the temperature reading. On the top of that, the input voltage noise of the buffer will be added to the output. The typical noise model can be found in http://www.analog.com/media/en/technical-documentation/application-notes/AN-940.pdf

The good candidates for the buffer is LT1128, ADA4004, OPA140, and LT1012. If the application is not too sensitive to the total noise, OPA604 is a good choise with easier handling.

Circuit2: With the same reason, AD741 is an old generic amp that is not a great choise for this purpose. The current noise is more significant because of the higher transimpedance here. The same noise model as above can be used to analyze the performance.

I've made a few changes to the monitoring setup in the hope we catch a glitch in the DAC output/ sus coil driver electronics. Summary of important changes:

1. I'm using a CDS oscillator to send a signal of 20counts amplitude, 5.0 Hz to the coil rather than an excitation point. This way, I have access to the known signal we are sending, and can subtract it from the measured signal. 
2. To account for the phase delay between the excitation from the oscillator to the measured excitation, I am using an all-pass filter to manually delay the oscillator signal (internally in the model) before subtracting it from the measured output.

It remains to see if we will actually be able to see the glitch in long stretches of data - it is unclear to me how big a glitch will be in terms of ADC counts.

The relevant channels are : C1:SCX-UL_DIFF_MON and C1:SCX-UL_DIFF_MON_EPICS (pardon the naming conventions as the setup is only temporary after all). Both these should be hovering around 0 in the absence of any glitching. The noise in the measured signal seems to be around 2 ADC counts. I am leaving this as is overnight, hopefully the ETMX coil drive signal chain obliges and gives us some conclusive evidence...

I have not committed any of the model changes to the SVN. 

One of the pianosa monitors has ceased to function  For now, it has been set up to operate with just the one monitor.

One of Donatella's monitors has a defective display as well. Maybe we should source some replacements. Koji has said we will talk to Larry Wallace about this..

It may be advantageous to look at the coil output data from when the OSEM damping is on, to try and reproduce the real output signal amplitude that gets sent to the coils.

The amplitude of the applied signal (20) was indeed chosen to roughly match what goes to the coils normally when the OSEM damping is on.

There appears to be no evidence of a detectable glitch in the last 10 hours or so (see attachment #1 - of course this is a 16Hz channel and the full data is yet to be looked at)... I guess the verdict on this is still inconclusive.

Johannes, Koji

We obtained two monitors of the same type from Larry.

Based on Koji's observation of a flat TF, it seems more likely the Vmon channels are looking at the path I've highlighted in green (named "EPICS V Mon"), rather than the path in red (named "DAQ Mon") that Koji initially suspected. This path still lacks any AA for the 16Hz EPICS sampling.

Ah, thanks. That makes sense. In that case, we should remove the texts "30Hz HPF" from the suspension screens.

Now we just need AA LPFs for these channels, or hook them up to the RT system.

I performed a visual inspection of ITMY in its natural habitat today. I did not get any great pictures from the HR side because it's located very towards the edge of the table towards the arm. Before that I checked the levelness of the table. East-west direction was fine, north-south was slightly off but still within the marks for 'level'.

The AR side had several speckles, a few of them located somewhat near the geometrical center of ITMY. The top of the barrel was worse of, as expected. The HR side was a little better, but there were a few pieces of dust? near near the center. Sample pictures are attached, I uploaded all the good ones to Picasa.

Clamps that mark the position of ITMY were already in place. I did not move the optic just yet, and we will have to move a cable block out of the way to bring ITMY near the opening for us to work on it. We will markt the position of that to preserve the weight distribution. Then we can probably take some better before/after pictures. Tomorrow I will be looking at ETMY.

Yesterday, I expanded the extent of the ETMX suspension coil driver investigation. I set up identical monitors for two more coils (so now we are monitoring the voltage sent to UL, UR and LL - I didn't set one up for LR because it is on a second DB25 connector). Furthermore, I increased the excitation amplitude from ~20 to ~2000 (each coil had an independent oscillator at slightly different frequency between 5Hz and 8.5 Hz), the logic being that during LSC actuation we send signals of approximately this amplitude to the coils and we wanted to see if a larger amplitude signal somehow makes the system more prone to glitches.

Over ~10 hours of observation, there is no clear evidence of any glitch. About 2 hours ago (~930am PDT Fri Jul 8), the watchdog tripped - but this was because even though I had increased the trip threshold to ~800 for the course of this investigation, megatron runs this script every 20 minutes or so that automatically reduces this threshold by 17 counts - so at some point, the threshold went lower than the coil voltage, causing the watchdog to trip. So this was not a glitch. The other break around 2am PDT earlier today was an FB crash.

Do we now go ahead and pull the suspension out, and proceed with the swap?

YES

Move the suspension on the south clean bench and make more close inspection. We need to remove the OSEMs.

Then unmount the mirror. Bring it to the clean room and work on the bond removal.
Meanwhile, set up all suspension components inclusing the alignment test setup.

Acromag is talking now, after few changes to the original EPICS configuration and cross compile configuration. Modbus config files also were changed and compiled again to run it on linux-arm architecture. I have made use of pyModbus for the final work and I am planning to use the same for grabbing channels. Though I am unable to grab channel data right now, I am able to communicate to it over ethernet and send and receive data. 
 

ETMX is currently in the clean room, the barrel is the tiniest bit submerged in acetone that will remove a guide rod, standoff, and side OSEM. 

Additional inpsection of the standoffs on the flow bench did not provide any insight, pictures are in picasa. Here is a cropped version of a picture we took:

We should look at them under a microscope.

The magnet, guide rod, and standoff came off without too much force. However, some epoxy residue remains on the barrel. I didn't really want to scrape it off, so I've opted for more soaking. Much of the acetone had evaporated already, so I put some more - just to the point where the residue is submerged. 

In the evening, I went into the clean room to check how it goes.

- The air around the table is quite warm like a hell. Is this normal?

- I checked how the scattered epoxy spots look like. They were not touching the bath anymore due to evaporation.
- I scraped the spots with the tweezers there. They were easily removed. The particlates on the side barrel were wiped by a wipe with aceton. (Result: Attachment 3)

- Then looked at the other side. I poked the standoff with the tweezer. It was easily removed. I don't think the bond was too weak. Just the area of the bond was so tiny.
- Also residue was scraped by a tweezer and wiped with a cloth. (Attachment 2)

- The removed stand off is in the stainless bowl together with the parts that Eric removed.

- I didn't want to leave the optic in the aceton fume. It was placed on a metal donuts for a 3" optic. (Attachment 4)

- I couldn't find a vacant clean glass jar for the lid. So, a foil hut was built. We should be very careful not to scratch the optic when we remove the hut. (Attachment 5)

- The aceton bath was covered with the foil as it was. (Attachment 6)

While ETMX is out, I'm leaving the larger amplitude excitations to the coils on over the weekend, in case any electronic glitch decides to rear its head over the weekend. The watchdog should be in no danger of tripping now that we have removed the ETM.

Unrelated to this work: while removing the ETMX suspension from the chamber, I also removed the large mirror that was placed inside to aid photo taking, so that there is no danger of an earthquake knocking it over and flooding the chamber with dust.

I was hoping to glue a standoff and guide rod today, but some problems have reared their heads. Story follows:

Upon first placng the optic into the standoff gluing fixture, I was presented with a geometric problem. In the assembly procedure, one glues the rods before the magnets, which prevents a situation like this:

When what you want to do is this:

So, I spun the optic around such that the magnet is on the far side of the scribe line from the side arm, and instead of extending the side arm past the scribe line, will bring it back towards the near side. I also swapped the arms of the fixture such that the guide rod will be glued on the opposite side of the optic than the side magnet, so the side magnet won't get in the way when doing the pitch adjustment of the second standoff.

Then, I found the scribed ruby rods, and took a look at one under a microscope. The groove looks nice and sharp. I placed the standoff in the side arm of the fixture.

However, the fact that the groove does not go all the way around the standoff leads to problem #1: when adjusting the position of the side arm, the standoff seems to roll around unpredictably, making it hard to deterministically position it while keeping the groove facing outwards. 

Problem #2 is not too surprising give Steve's finding about the guide rod holding arm in ELOG 12264. Given that the tip is banged up, the guide rod does not sit straight in the arm, making it crooked. This would lead to the second standoff's groove not being well aligned to the suspension wire.

I will meditate on solutions to these problems... I have covered the optic and fixture with the same foil hut Koji made on Friday.

Also, I peeked at the aluminum standoffs under the microscope. Since the groove goes all the way around, we don't really know where the wire was seated before. Still, there are some places where the groove looks kind of worn:

It took a little time, but I relocked the IMC and realigned to the point where the PRC is flashing, visible on REFL and AS, and tiny flashes are visible in TRY.

I have obtained 2x100cc bottles of in-date first contact from Garilynn (use before date is 09/14/2016) for cleaning of our test-masses. They are presently wrapped in foil in the plastic box with all the other first contact supplies.

I found a note on Steve's desk that R. Abbott left yesterday afternoon about an unidentified slippery substance being present on the floor by cabinet S12, along the X arm. (Steve is away this week)

Just now, I found no trace of the substance in the vicinity of that cabinent (which is one of the cabinets for clean objects). Maybe the janitor cleaned it already?

I've noticed the spot that Rich means before, too. I think you only notice this when you're wearing the shoe covers, not sneakers or crocs. I didn't see any 'substance', it seems more like the floor finish (wax?) seems to be more slippery in that area than others.

[ericq, Koji]

We have positioned and applied epoxy to one ruby standoff on ETMX, for overnight curing according to the SOS standoff gluing procedure. This included:

• Removing and reinserting the guiderod until the groove is properly oriented, as seen by microscope
• finding the right vertical offset with the microscope + 3 axis micrometer stage
• axial centering by equalizing the distances from the grove to each bevelled edge of the barrel with the microscope stage
• mixing epoxy
• Testing the mix by putting some drops on some foil, and putting that in a 200F oven for 15 minutes, and checking that it cured well
• Applying some tiny droplets of expoxy using the tip of some copper wire, making an effort to keep epoxy away from the glue

Instead of trying to fix up a way of gluing the guiderod with the proper alignment, we chose to be more conservative and glue the standoff today, then switch the gluing fixture's arms tomorrow to glue the guide rod with the good fixture arm. 

Additionally, we chose to glue one of the more assymetric standoffs on this first side. What I mean by this is: We have 3 ruby standoffs with grooves. Two of them have the groove about 1/8th of the way along their length, and one has it about 1/4 of the way. Since the second standoff is going to be glued while suspended, after pitch balancing, we figure that we want to use the more centered groove on that side, meaning we used one of the 1/8th standoffs today.

Unfortunately, we neglected to take any pictures :/

Looked at ITMX. Johannes and I both saw a fairly large speck of dust near the center of the HR side. We tried to take some photos but couldn't get any with good focus. 

On Monday I inspected ETMY, and found nothing really remarkable. There was only little dust on the HR side, and nothing visible in the center. The AR side has some visible dust, nothing too crazy, but some of it near the center.

We ran out of illuminator juice, and short-term charging couldn't restore enough battery life to continue the work. We should be able to get some better pictures tomorrow.