[Escoordminutes] ES Division Coordination MTG. Aug-08

[Lew Serna]

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.