From lserna at nrao.edu Thu Aug 10 14:50:38 2006 From: lserna at nrao.edu (Lew Serna) Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2006 12:50:38 -0600 Subject: [Escoordminutes] ES Division Coordination MTG. Aug-08 Message-ID: <44DB7FFE.6020903@aoc.nrao.edu> Minutes for the ES Division Coordination Meeting held on Tuesday, August 08, 2006, at 10:30 am, in the LL CB conference room. Attending were Lew Serna, Melcolm Peralta, Bob Broilo, Jon Thunborg, Gene Cole, Jim Ruff and Charley Chavez. BUDGET ? Money has been allocated to do the Hatch Gear PM (Electrical #53363), Refurbish 3 AZ Bearings (Acct#53361 and Remodel the AAB Office/Break area (#53362). Money for the following equipment has also been allocated; E-size copying machine (drafting #53321), Pressure Washer (acct #53330), Ballast Regulator (Track #53342), Upgrade Rail Vehicle (Track), Thermal Welder (Track# 53342) and MC5 Backup Bus repairs (Auto Mech #53341). These Items must be expensed before the end of this fiscal year. Additionally $200K has been allocated to purchase track repair materials this year. A possible $70K may be available for other projects or equipment before the end of the fiscal year. All PO?s needing to go out for bids must be submitted by August 25, 2006. Other PO?s that need to be charged this fiscal year should be submitted by September 15. Be sure to let purchasing know that the PO needs to be committed this fiscal year. VLBA TT Trips? Shipping the container to St Croix is extremely expensive, so we propose to ship a container one way with all the parts needed to repair the antenna and with tools needed for future tiger team visits. The existing container is fairly beat up and should be replaced since it may not be acceptable for shipping much longer. A new sea worthy container should be purchased soon to make the trips from here on out. Shipping costs for the container round trip is around $15K. Ramon estimates the cost for tools and a container is around $22K. The tool cost may be reduced by shipping some of the necessary tools in a box each visit instead of purchasing these tools and keeping them at St. Criox. Ordering of containers and tools may occur towards the end of the fiscal year (September). A similar situation exists with the HN site where shipping costs are about $12K. A permanent container may be desirable for Hancock as well. The 2006 VLBA KP and MK visits are complete; and the visit for HN is scheduled for September 20-27. The AZ 1 wheel assembly was replaced at MK during the visit. AZ Bearings -- An estimated three weeks in the AAB are required before a bearing change can occur. Parts from the bearings removed from antennas are needed for measuring and fitting of new parts and should be stored until they are scheduled to be shipped to Rotek for repair. Antenna 14, 16 & 18?s bearings have been shipped to Rotek for refurbishment this year. There is an 8-9 week lead time for delivery on a refurbished bearing. Inspection of the bearings should be complete by mid-August. As soon as the inspection report arrives a PO should be issued to refurbish the bearings. Antenna 26?s bearing was been changed in May 2006. Grease samples show that antennas 28, 10, 20, are good candidates for the next bearing changes. Large metal pieces were recently found on Antenna 28?s AZ bearing grease. This bearing will likely be replaced next, in FY2007. There is one good Azimuth bearing on hand. One spare bearing should be maintained at all times in the event a catastrophic failure occurs. If possible bearing replacement will occur at a rate of one per year in order to maintain the EVLA outfitting schedule. NEW PROJECTS: Control building Stairways?The Control Building Stairways are being replaced due to their rapid deterioration. The stairways will be replaced with an improved design conforming to ADA. Materials have been ordered and drawings have been sent to the Machine Shop and the Weld shop for fabrication of parts. A new concrete landing will have to be poured at the base of the eastern stairway. The stairs will be repaired one flight at a time so the work can be fit in along with EVLA work. The eastern stairway is now deemed unsafe due to trip hazards. A barricade preventing the use of the eastern stairway will be installed. The western stairway is usable. Due to the amount of EVLA work scheduled for the Welding and Carpentry shops the project will be delayed until such time that these groups can get caught up. LWDA (Long Wave Development Array) ? The University of New Mexico and the Naval Research Laboratory are leading a research project called the Long Wavelength Demonstrator Array, which will be installed within the VLA site central square mile. ES Division has provided access to the site and installed a fiber optic cable that will be connected to VLA?s west arm trunk at CW7. Fiber terminations at CW7 are complete and terminations at the Control Building and at the LWDA site will be made by the fiber group. ES Division has been asked to trench the fiber about 20 feet more to the junction box and to install a ground grid. This work should was finished by 6/7/06. Transporter Axles ? The transporter axles are exhibiting several cracks which are being rubbed out (repaired) preventing propagation of the cracks. This is a temporary fix as more cracks will eventually reappear. These axles should probably be replaced in the next 10 years with axles made of a different material and design to increase their life. They are currently lasting about 12-14 years and were last replaced in 1992. There are 12 axles per transporter and each axle will cost around $3K to replace. There is one spare axle of the existing design available. A plan to purchase 3 newly designed axles per year to replace all transporter axles in 8 years time is being proposed. It is worthwhile to investigate the cost of having these built up at one time by an outside shop. The last two inspections of ?repaired? axles (in service for about 2 years) revealed no cracks. This project is ON HOLD pending further monitoring. VLBA Gearbox and Wheel Assy. The one spare Wheel assembly that was built was installed on the MK antenna; parts are available for a second. Another spare should be built as soon as possible. Also there should be enough spares to repair the spare VLBA Gearbox that has been cannibalized. If the parts have been expensed the gearbox should be restored. Steve Aragon will check on spare parts to make sure that they have been expensed and withdraw the necessary parts to restore the VLBA Gearbox. SEWAGE LIFT STATION? The VLA sewage lift station upgrade is in progress. The upgrade will bring all pumps and controls above ground eliminating the confined space entry for almost all required maintenance. Only a couple of check valves will remain below the surface. The building has been erected. Remaining materials should be ordered this fiscal year and charged to Account # 53362. Since the lift station is working, HVAC and Electrical work will proceed as soon as practical. VLBA CORRELATOR HVAC? The VLBA correlator HVAC System at the AOC is very old and in need of replacing. The funds for this project which will be included our Facilities Infrastructure Budget Account #53362. The units have been ordered and have been received. Tent start date for installation is 8-21-06. TS BREAK AREA? the Tech Services break area has been in operation since the building was built in the ?70?s and is in poor condition. Contribution from ES and Electronics Division has made a renovation possible. Work is almost complete with only the countertop remaining to be done. SANDBLASTING AREA? There is a need for a sheltered sandblasting area at the paint booth with more storage space for better organization. With the sandblasting area we can recover and reuse the sandblasting media and organize Paint Booth work more effectively. Storage space for this has been ordered and the concrete floor will be poured this week. AAB OFFICE/BREAK REMODEL A plan to remodel the AAB office space and break area is being devised. Work on this project is funded. Materials must be expensed before the end of this fiscal year. Use account #53361 BUS REPAIRS?The newly acquired MC5 bus needs minor repairs before it can be put into service. This project is funded on the Auto Account # 53341 and repairs are in progress. Once this bus is placed in service we can return the White Bus to GSA. The MC5 bus will become a backup bus in the event the Blue or Yellow MC9?s break down. Hatch Gear PM?Time for a 6-8 hour outage to perform this PM has to be scheduled with operations. Use Account #53363 for this project. EVLA STATUS ; Correlator Room? Electrical-The lighting is complete. Underfloor 110V wiring is complete. Shunt wiring is in progress and ground resistance testing needs to be done. All aluminum floor racks are in place. The remaining computer floor work in the correlator room is scheduled for 8-21-06. HVAC-- HVAC Units are plumbed; Chilled Water Header Installed; Chilled Water Header insulation is complete; Start up scheduled tentatively for Sept. 1, 2006 ; A new flow switch and a new pressure switch will be installed in the sprinkler system after the FM 200 testing which is scheduled for August 29. Training on the FM 200 system is tentatively scheduled for the week of 9/12. EVLA COLD STORAGE FENCE is complete and storage is greatly improved. EVLA Antennas: Antenna 23 is in the AAB. This is the beginning of the 6 antenna per year production schedule. A goal of 12 antennas outfitted by September of 2007 is set. 20 L-band feeds will need to be finished by September 2007, along with 2 new S-band feeds by the end of December 2006! A Christmas tree will need to be made for the S-band feeds. An on Sky Test with a prototype correlator is also set for Sept. ?07. Keeping the schedule is very high priority. There are Currently 21 VLA antennas and 7 EVLA Antennas. A 20 Antenna rule for VLA antennas now exists. EVLA antenna callouts will be made mostly for equipment safety reasons and will be determined by operations. Antenna 13 feed moisture monitoring shows that moisture is inside the L band feed since July 8 and needs to be investigated. SAFETY REPORT There have been a total of 8 Accidents reported this year. There have been 5 accidents attributed to the ES Division. NRAO NM ended 2005 with 12 accidents. 2006-001 ES Div. Carpentry Shop Employee injured while replacing floor tiles. 2006-002 ES Div. Servo Shop Employee injured back while moving shop around. 2006-003 ES Div. Secretary Employee injured head while getting into a vehicle. 2006-004 ES Div. Track Crew Employee damaged to prosthetic leg. 2006-005 Business Div. HR Employee has possible carpel tunnel in right wrist. 2006-006 ALMA PSI Group Employee received an electrical shock from a 400 VAC 2006-007 ES Div. Carpentry Shop Employee injured hand with pneumatic nail gun. 2006-008 Computing DIV. CID Employee tripped over raised edge of floor tile *Incident Report:* There have been a total of 5 Incidents reported this year. There have been 2 incidents attributed to the ES Division. *Training: *There will be a CPR training class this month on the 16^th at 9:00am A training class will need to be set up concerning the FM200 system. *Next Monthly All Hands Safety Meeting:* The next all hands safety meeting will be held on August 31 @ 3:00 PM in the VLA Cafe. /Sandra Gomez/ a Safety Specialist with Airgas and with over 13years in the safety field will provide training on Lockout/Tagout to all employees at the VLA site. It is a requirement by the OSHA that all employees receive Lockout/Tagout training annually. This training is mandatory *Drop light incident in antenna 14:* A droplight was found in antenna 14 that had been left on. The droplight housing had melted. This is a concern because it could have started a possible fire in the vertex room. The light was found hanging from its card swinging freely. The metal part of the housing states that the maximum wattage bulb is 75 watts that can be used safely in the droplight. There was a130 volt /116 watt light bulb in this drop light. The smoke detector did not activate because the housing never caught on fire or began to smolder. The smoke detector has been checked out to ensure that it is functioning properly. On recommendation has been made; Plugging the utility light into an outlet connected to the vertex room light switch may prevent future mishaps such as this one. *Driving Company Vehicles: * Tech Students employees and some temp agency employees are not allowed to drive NRAO vehicles. *Servo lockout switch on Antenna 27:* Ken Lakies and I went to antenna 27 to look at the servo lockout switch on 7-14-2006. It had been reported that it was not working properly (Arcing). Ken found connectors lose. The switch was repaired and is working properly now. This is being added to the antenna overhaul task list. *Arc Flash Program:* The program is in a hold mode awaiting Bob?s report and Jaime?s time. Jaime informed me that it will be at lest 2 weeks before he can do anything on the SOP?s or the program. OTHER: GSA Vehicles (speeding and license plates.) Government vehicles are to be used for official business only. All traffic laws must be obeyed while driving a GSA Vehicle. It has been reported that Government license plates are being stolen Please make sure that your GSA and NSF vehicles have both license plates properly mounted. Government Property?Removal of property, including construction debris, is unauthorized unless you have written permission from your supervisor. Removal can only occur during normal working days. Removal of government property is not allowed on weekends. ANNOUNCEMENTS: End of summer party.?End of summer party is scheduled for Thursday, September 21. As usual the Pit Bar-B-Que will be cooked by track crew and the food will be served by the supervisory staff. The no host lunch for September is canceled. Please take every precaution to keep valuables in your vehicle out of sight while parked at the AOC since several break-ins have occurred at the parking lot over last several weeks. From lserna at nrao.edu Thu Aug 31 18:13:56 2006 From: lserna at nrao.edu (Lew Serna) Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2006 16:13:56 -0600 Subject: [Escoordminutes] ES Division Coordination Meeting Minutes -- August Message-ID: <44F75F24.4080807@aoc.nrao.edu> Minutes for the ES Division Coordination Meeting held on Tuesday, August 29, 2006, at 10:30 am, in the LL CB conference room. Attending were Lew Serna, Ramon Gutierrez, Bob Broilo, Jon Thunborg, Guy Stanzione, James Sullivan, Gene Cole, Jim Ruff, Mark McKinnon, Jim Ulvestad and Paul Savedra. BUDGET ? PO?s have been submitted for the following: Hatch Gear PM (Electrical #53363), Refurbish 3 AZ Bearings (Acct#53361), $300K for RR ties and Track Ballast. PO?s for the following equipment has also been submitted; E-size copying machine (drafting #53321), Ballast Regulator (Track #53342), VLBA Containers (acct #53330) and MC5 Backup Bus repairs (Auto Mech #53341). It is possible that some funding of the RR material will be cut back. All PO?s needing to go out for bids should have been submitted by August 25, 2006. Other PO?s that need to be charged to this fiscal year should be submitted by September 15. Be sure to let purchasing know that the PO needs to be committed this fiscal year. Also make sure you get receiver copies back promptly so payments get out before the end of fiscal year. The following PO?s still need to be submitted before Sept.15: Remodel the AAB Office/Break area (#53362), Thermal Welder (Track# 53342) Remember these Items will have to be expensed before the end of this fiscal year. VLBA TT Trips-- Shipping the container to St Croix is extremely expensive, so we propose to ship a container one way with all the parts needed to repair the antenna and with tools needed for future tiger team visits. The existing container is fairly beat up and will be replaced since it may not be acceptable for shipping much longer. A new sea worthy container will be purchased soon to make the trips from here on out. Shipping costs for the container round trip is around $15K. Ramon estimates the cost for tools and a container is around $22K. The tool cost may be reduced by shipping some of the necessary tools in a box each visit instead of purchasing these tools and keeping them at St. Criox. Ordering of containers and tools may occur towards the end of the fiscal year (September). A similar situation exists with the MK and HN site where shipping costs are about $12K minimum. A permanent container may be desirable for these sites as well. The 2006 VLBA KP and MK visits are complete; The AZ 1 wheel assembly was replaced at MK during the visit. The HN maintenance visit is scheduled for September 20-27. A 3-4 day extended visit to replace one AZ wheel assembly at HN will be requested. A wheel assembly will be shipped to HN for replacement. Both wheel assemblies will eventually need to be replaced. The second wheel will be replaced in three years during the TT visit to HN. An effort to replace all old style wheel assemblies during Maintenance visits will be investigated. Quotes for machining axles from and outside shop are desirable. AZ Bearings ? An estimated three weeks in the AAB are required before a bearing change can occur. Parts from the bearings removed from antennas are needed for measuring and fitting of new parts and should be stored until they are scheduled to be shipped to Rotek for repair. Antenna 14, 16 & 18?s bearings have been shipped to Rotek for refurbishment. There is an 8-9 week lead time for delivery on a refurbished bearing. Inspection of the bearings for possible refurbishment is still pending. A PO has been issued to refurbish the bearings as soon as possible. Antenna 26?s bearing was been changed in May 2006. Grease samples show that antennas 28, 10, 20, are good candidates for the next bearing changes. Large metal pieces were recently found on Antenna 28?s AZ bearing grease. This bearing will likely be replaced next, in FY2007. There is one good Azimuth bearing on hand. One spare bearing should be maintained at all times in the event a catastrophic failure occurs. If possible bearing replacement will occur at a rate of one per year in order to maintain the EVLA outfitting schedule. NEW PROJECTS: Control building Stairways? The Control Building Stairways are being replaced due to their rapid deterioration. The stairways will be replaced with an improved design conforming to ADA. Materials have been ordered and drawings have been sent to the Machine Shop and the Weld shop for fabrication of parts. A new concrete landing will have to be poured at the base of the eastern stairway. The stairs will be repaired one flight at a time so the work can be fit in along with EVLA work. The eastern stairway is now deemed unsafe due to trip hazards. A barricade preventing the use of the eastern stairway will be installed. The western stairway is usable. Due to the amount of EVLA work scheduled for the Welding and Carpentry shops the project will be delayed until such time that these groups can get caught up. Transporter Axles ? The transporter axles are exhibiting several cracks which are being rubbed out (repaired) preventing propagation of the cracks. This is a temporary fix as more cracks will eventually reappear. These axles should probably be replaced in the next 10 years with axles made of a different material and design to increase their life. They are currently lasting about 12-14 years and were last replaced in 1992. There are 12 axles per transporter and each axle will cost around $3K to replace. There is one spare axle of the existing design available. A plan to purchase 3 newly designed axles per year to replace all transporter axles in 8 years time is being proposed. It is worthwhile to investigate the cost of having these built up at one time by an outside shop. The last two inspections of ?repaired? axles (in service for about 2 years) revealed no cracks. This project is ON HOLD pending further monitoring. VLBA Gearbox and Wheel Assy. The one spare Wheel assembly that was built was installed on the MK antenna; parts are available for a second. Another spare should be built as soon as possible. Also there should be enough spares to repair the spare VLBA Gearbox that has been cannibalized. If the parts have been expensed the gearbox should be restored. Steve Aragon will check on spare parts to make sure that they have been expensed and withdraw the necessary parts to restore the VLBA Gearbox. SEWAGE LIFT STATION? The VLA sewage lift station upgrade is in progress. The upgrade will bring all pumps and controls above ground eliminating the confined space entry for almost all required maintenance. Only a couple of check valves will remain below the surface. The building has been erected. Remaining materials should be ordered this fiscal year and charged to Account # 53362. A meeting is scheduled on the afternoon 8/29/06 for planning the remainder of work for this project. VLBA CORRELATOR HVAC? The VLBA correlator HVAC System at the AOC is very old and in need of replacing. The funds for this project which will be included our Facilities Infrastructure Budget Account #53362. The units have been ordered and have been received. This job has been successfully completed. Future Correlator HVAC maintenance and callouts will revert to New Mexico Tech. Thanks to all involved for a Job Well Done! TS BREAK AREA? the Tech Services break area has been in operation since the building was built in the ?70?s and is in poor condition. Contribution from ES and Electronics Division has made a renovation possible. Work is complete with only final touches needed. SANDBLASTING AREA? there is a need for a sheltered sandblasting area at the paint booth with more storage space for better organization. With the sandblasting area we can recover and reuse the sandblasting media and organize Paint Booth work more effectively. The concrete floor has been poured and the storage bins are in place. Work on the roof will proceed as time permits. The sandblasting area is functional now. AAB OFFICE/BREAK REMODEL-- A plan to remodel the AAB office space and break area is being devised. Work on this project is funded. Materials must be expensed before the end of this fiscal year. Use account #53362. Electrical PO?s are in but still need Carpentry and HVAC. BUS REPAIRS? The newly acquired MC5 bus needs minor repairs before it can be put into service. This project is funded on the Auto Account # 53341. Repairs are in progress and nearing completion. Once this bus is placed in service we can return the White Bus to GSA. The MC5 bus will become a backup bus in the event the Blue or Yellow MC9?s break down. Hatch Gear PM? Time for a 6-8 hour outage to perform this PM has been scheduled with operations for September 22, 2006 beginning at 7:00am. Use Account #53363 for this project. A meeting for planning work on this project will be held in 2 weeks. Oil Storage Tank?The two old storage tanks behind the Generator building will be replaced with a one double wall storage tank bringing us into HAZMAT compliance. Concrete bases will be necessary to set the tank down and plumbing will be required. EVLA STATUS ; Correlator Room? It has been determined that general purpose cables will be allowed in the correlator room plenum. We are awaiting for the floor contractor to finish so we can continue with HVAC startup. Still need under floor 110 V wiring, Filter RFI check, Doorway pinch interlock, Hallway ceiling, The Fire system and related equipment shutdown systems will be tested on the week of 18 September. It has been determined that the HVAC motors do not require a soft start. EVLA Antennas: Antenna 23 is in the AAB. This is the beginning of the 6 antenna per year production schedule. A goal of 12 antennas outfitted by September of 2007 is set. 20 L-band feeds will need to be finished by September 2007, along with 2 new S-band feeds by the end of December 2006! A Christmas tree will need to be made for the S-band feeds. Keeping the schedule is very high priority. There are Currently 21 VLA antennas and 7 EVLA Antennas. A 20 Antenna rule for VLA antennas now exists. A callout will occur for VLA antennas when we have only 19 antennas operational. EVLA antenna callouts will be made mostly for equipment safety reasons and will be determined by operations. So far ES Division EVLA antenna outfitting is on schedule. Antenna HVAC will undergo several changes over the next several months to try and meet new Vertex room specifications. Antenna 13 feed moisture monitoring shows that moisture is inside the L band feed since July 8 and needs to be investigated. Ramon will investigate the merits of having a Metal Working machine and how it would impact efficiency on fabrication tasks in the AAB. SAFETY REPORT Accident Report: There have been a total of 9 Accidents reported this year. There have been 6 accidents attributed to the ES Division. Ended the year with 12 accidents for 2005 2006-001 ES Div. Carpentry Shop Employee injured while replacing floor tiles. 2006-002 ES Div. Servo Shop Employee injured back while moving shop around. 2006-003 ES Div. Secretary Employee injured head while getting into a vehicle. 2006-004 ES Div. Track Crew Employee damaged to prosthetic leg. 2006-005 Business Div. HR Employee has possible carpel tunnel in right wrist. 2006-006 ALMA PSI Group Employee received an electrical shock from a 400 VAC 2006-007 ES Div. Carpentry Shop Employee injured hand with pneumatic nail gun. 2006-008 Computing DIV. CID Employee tripped over raised edge of floor tile 2006-009 ES Div. Transporter Shop Employee injured while attaching new feed cone in Ant 26 Incident Report: There have been a total of 7 Incidents reported this year. There have been 3 incidents attributed to the ES Division. JHA: A Job Hazard Analysis needs to be completed for the installation of the new upper receiver cabinet and feed cones. Training: There will be a DOT required training for supervisors on Wed August 30th at 9:00AM in the Caf? Con Room. The training will be conducted by Socorro Mental Health (SMH). Two SMH employees will be on site to conduct this training. This training will be conducted in- accordance with Department of Transportation (DOT) rules and regulations. The DOT requires training for supervisors under Title 49 Part 382 Subpart F, Section 603. Next Monthly All Hands Safety Meeting: The next all hands safety meeting will be held on August 31 @ 3:00 PM in the VLA Cafe. Sandra Gomez a Safety Specialist with Airgas and with over 13years in the safety field will provide training on Lockout/Tagout to all employees at the VLA site. It is a requirement by the OSHA that all employees receive Lockout/Tagout training annually. Arc Flash Program: The program is in a hold mode awaiting Bob?s report and Jaime?s time. Emergency Services: Rope Rescue: The Rope Rescue team had a full day training session on 8/23/06. The training went very well. Radios: The new radio antenna was installed on the AAB on 8-4-06 by Bob Broilo, Dave Alderman and Richard Murillo. The new radios will be in soon. OTHER: Coke or Pepsi?-- We have had many troubles with the Coca Cola Company with regard to service at the VLA; some thought is being given to change to Pepsi in hopes of better service. Supervisors should ask employees if they object to the change in product by the end of this week. ANNOUNCEMENTS: AUI President, Ethan Schreier, will talk to NRAO staff on August 30, at 3 p.m. EDT. Due to limited space available at the VLA, a video tape will be made for viewing by employees unable to participate. End of year Warehouse Inventory- Warehouse inventory will be performed the week of September 11th through the 15th. On the 11th, the warehouse will close at 1:30 p.m. so that all of the receivers and issues can be put into the system. The warehouse will continued to be closed until at least the end of Thursday, the 14th; perhaps even part of that Friday. If finished ahead of time, the warehouse will open earlier. The warehouse will let everyone know if that happens. Only Emergency withdrawals will be issued while inventory is in progress. End of summer party.?End of summer party is scheduled for Thursday, September 21. As usual the Pit Bar-B-Que will be cooked by track crew and the food will be served by the supervisory staff. The no host lunch for September is canceled. The AUI Board will meet at the AOC on October 10-12 with a possible tour at the VLA on October 12. It is possible they would like to reserve the VLA Cafeteria Conference Room for their visit. Terry Romero is soliciting NRAO NM NEWS newsletter articles for September. Please submit your articles in early September.