[Escoordminutes] ES Division Coord. Mtg. Minutes-August

[Lew Serna]

Minutes for the ES Division Coordination Meeting held on Tuesday, August 
24, 2004, at 10 am, in the LL CB conference room.  Attending were Bob 
Broilo, Lew Serna,  Pat Lewis, Guy Stanzione,  Brent Avery, Gene Cole, 
Patty Lindsey, Mark McKinnon, Jim Ruff, Tom Frost and Jon Thunborg.


BUDGET   Serna.    Requisitions of greater than $5K or that need to go 
out for bids  should be submitted by the end of this week. Purchase 
requisitions for a RR engine and 2 ballast cars should be submitted 
before the end of this week. Supervisors are requested to update their 
WBS to reflect next years projects and EVLA manpower allocations. 
Reminder that September 15 is deadline for clothing reimbursements and 
charges (<$5K) on this years budget.

AZ Bearings.  Antenna #16 will be scheduled for bearing replacement on 
Monday, October 18.  Critical personnel may require a schedule shift 
change if they work on Fridays.  Parts from the bearings removed from 
antennas should be stored until they are scheduled to be shipped to 
Rotek for repair. These parts are needed for measuring and fitting of 
new parts.  Antenna #14’s bearing will be shipped to Rotek for possible 
refurbishment in FY 2005. Bearings will be refurbished as they are 
removed from the Antennas (approximately 1 per year).  Antennas 18, 20 
and 26 have bad bearings that will eventually need to be replaced.  A 
spare bearing should be maintained at all times. An estimated three 
weeks in the AAB are required before a bearing change can occur. Antenna 
#16 should enter the AAB around September 27.  Try to prepare as far in 
advance as possible.  Guy Stanzione will be the next Bearing Change 
Supervisor.  It is possible that visitors from Jodrell Bank Observatory 
in the UK will witness the separation.


NEW PROJECTS:
AZ BEARING Pocket Mill- the AZ Bearing Pocket Mill is used to machine 
the antenna azimuth bearing pocket.  At best the mill will currently 
achieve an accuracy of around .008 inches or .009 inches of tolerance. 
The spec calls for less than a .012 inch tolerance.  The use of a 
different bearing on the mill would achieve a higher degree of accuracy 
for milling the pocket.  If the new mill bearing can be purchased with 
our current budget we will replace it before the next bearing change. 
Early cost estimate is about $3K.  If we improve the pocket mill it is 
likely we will want to machine all bearing pockets to higher tolerances. 
   Jon Thunborg will see if this is a worthwhile and cost effective project.

Auto Shop Concrete slab- The badly deteriorated slab in front of the 
Auto Shop needs to be replaced.  Approximate cost is around $4K for 37 
yards of concrete and other materials.  If there is sufficient money 
left over from this years budget in the Site & Wye group, this project 
will be paid for with those funds.

VLA TACHS—
It is desirable to replace the analog tachs with digital brushless tachs 
on the VLA antennas as is being done on the VLBA antennas.  Bob believes 
this can be done with normal operations funding. Replacement of these 
tachs should improve reliability of the servo system.

ANTENNA DOORS—
Many antenna vertex room and pedestal room doors are in bad shape and 
need replacement.  Ramon will investigate the problem and decide if 
these doors should be replaced as part of the overhaul.  Otherwise they 
will be replaced as needed.  Insulated steel doors cost around $400 each.

VLBA PAINTING –
A program to visit each VLBA site for painting is being considered.  The 
VLBA SC site antenna is in dire need of a paint job and will be first 
priority.  Other sites will be investigated to establish a priority. 
This activity will be likely occurring concurrent with Tiger Team visits.

VLBA ANTENNA PANEL ADJUSTMENTS—
A program to set VLBA antenna panels at a rate of 3 antennas per year is 
also being considered. Holography measurements for Pie Town panels are 
available. It is hoped that PT panels can be scheduled to be reset by 
the end of September.

EVLA STATUS:
Cold Storage (Shop Space) – The floor will be finished this week.  The 
building construction will begin soon.  Manlift training will be done by 
Ramon Gutierrez for those who need to operate for the building erection. 
  Manpower may be requested from other groups that may have experience 
on metal building construction specifically from the Cryo and Antenna 
Mechanic groups.  Grounds and track crew members will also be involved. 
  Guy will ask ALMA if we can use their manlift to avoid conflict with 
manlift usage.

Transporter Generators-
It is estimated that a 60 KW generator will be required to keep the EVLA 
antennas powered while being transported. Two generators would cost 
around $25K. It was hoped that quiet 100KW CAT generators could be 
purchased to replace the existing and aging 45KW Detroit generators and 
would run both the transporter and antenna.   However this would cost 
around $65K.

ACCEPTANCE TESTS—
After Antenna 16 is outfitted it will undergo numerous required 
acceptance tests prior to being turned over to Operations.  A checklist 
of these tests needs to be compiled.

OUTFITTING MEETINGS--  It is desirable to conduct “outfitting” meetings 
to improve communications between ES Division and Electronics Division 
concerning the numerous changes that have occurred during the prototype 
stages.   Gene will spearhead and chair the first meeting with leadmen 
and other select members (date to be announced).

Quarterly Report Update      P. Lindsey
Please update & return to Patty.

SAFETY REPORT ...
An incident has occurred where the lathe in the machine shop was used 
without authorization.  In spite of the machine being locked out, 
someone who knew the combination to the lock used and damaged the lathe. 
The damage was not reported and the lathe was in a dangerous condition, 
which could have caused serious injury to shop personnel who are 
authorized to use it.  Unauthorized use equipment is not permitted at 
the VLA.  Operation and use of equipment at the VLA requires the 
authorization of the supervisor in charge of the shop where that 
equipment is housed.   Equipment should be locked out or locked up in 
order to prevent unauthorized use.

Tamper Safety Training will occur for auto mechanics, tamper operators, 
and other interested groups beginning September 1.


  OTHER Discussion (Other)
End of Summer Party—
End of summer party target date is Thursday, September 23.  Patty will 
organize with help from Pat and Lew.  Supervisors should get their award 
nominations in early to give Selfa plenty of time to finish them. 
Everybody welcome, same place, same cooks, same jokes!


Announcements:

Warehouse Inventory – There will be a warehouse inventory held on 
September 14 - 16.  The warehouse will be closed for those 3 days to 
conduct their annual inventory.  Please make only urgent requests during 
this time.

KUDOS—Thanks to the Jon Thunborg and the subreflector refurbishing crew 
for an outstanding job on Brewsters new subreflector work.  Improvement 
was significant (30% to 50% efficiency) and the antenna is now 
comparable to other antennas in the array.