Below are brief descriptions of the parts for the
design lab. I am only personally familiar with parts
A--P. Parts Q--Z are donated to the purpose by the UCSD
X-ray astrophysics group, who has built many
instruments now in space.
- 2-D flexure: one of six identical pieces designed to
critically constrain an optical bench on a telescope.
Each flexure is strong only in one dimension,
permitting small motions in the other two dimensions.
This is necessary to accommodate differential thermal
contraction between the telescope (ambient temperature)
and optical bench (kept warm). See http://physics.ucsd.edu/~tmurphy/apollo/mech.html
Material: stainless steel
- Thermal isolation standoff: Supports electronics
equipment within insulated enclosure, tying telescope
structure directly. The idea is to mount heavy
equipment within a comparatively flimsy box, without
requiring the box itself to support the weight. G-10
fiberglass was used because of its high strength and
very low thermal conductivity: it won't become a cold
finger. You might be able to pick out three of these in
the second picture in http://physics.ucsd.edu/~tmurphy/apollo/tour.html as three small circles above the
optical bench (center and right).
Material: G-10 fiberglass
- Unfinished beam baffle: meant to mount to an optical
bench near a rotating turning mirror (adjacent to large
back face of part). Large holes would have been bored
to allow the light to come in, through the back, then
back out the other side through another hole at 90
degrees. This would have gone at the 90-degree beam
turn in the top picture on the page: http://physics.ucsd.edu/~tmurphy/apollo/optics_bench.html
Material: aluminum 6061
- Dummy rotating optic: designed as a temporary dynamic
stand-in for a rotating optic. You can see this piece
in the second picture on the page: http://physics.ucsd.edu/~tmurphy/apollo/tour.html. Glass and aluminum
have nearly the same density, making this an effective trick.
Material: aluminum 6061
- Wedge support for optical post: serves to provide a
tilt-table for mounting an optical post, thereby
rotating the optic mounted on the post by roughly 21
degrees. This part can be seen at upper left in the top
picture on the page: http://physics.ucsd.edu/~tmurphy/apollo/optics_bench.html.
Material: aluminum 6061
- Angle Bracket: made for mounting a piece of
rack-mount electronics on a slide within an electronics rack.
Material: painted aluminum?
- Diffraction grating blank: An aluminum substrate onto
which a diffraction grating was to be replicated (epoxy
technique). There were to be two gratings with
different pitches/angles: one to produce a high
resolution spectrum, and the other for a low-resolution
spectrum. The grating rotated about the larger hole,
through which a shaft passed. The other holes
accommodated a gear (pinned and screwed) to move the
grating. The grating went into an infrared instrument
at Palomar (see http://www.its.caltech.edu/~btsoifer/pifs/pics/grating.html).
Material: aluminum 6061
- Optical bench post: A commercial piece for mounting
optics. See http://www.newfocus.com/product/model.cfm?modelno=9952.
Material: stainless steel
- Glass plate/optic holder: A commercial part for
mounting glass slides, polarizers, etc. Has a padded
wall and plastic-tipped screws so that the glass is not
broken when pinched.
Material: painted steel?
- One-inch optics holder: A commercial part for
mounting 1-inch transmissive optics. See http://www.newfocus.com/product/model.cfm?modelno=9834.
Material: anodized aluminum
- Optical bench clamp: Used to secure baseplates or
other parts to an optical bench. A screw goes through
the slot into the bench, the foot rests on the bench,
so that the long beam may clamp down on something and
keep it fixed.
Material: anodized aluminum
- Optical bench base plate: Used to mount optical posts
in such a way that translation on the bench is possible
(along the slots). Also some rotation is possible, in practice.
Material: anodized aluminum
- Large optical bench base plate: Serves much the same
function as the previous part.
Material: anodized aluminum
- APD cover plate: made to mount to a custom circuit
board on which was mounted a 40-pin DIP (dual in-line
package: chip) containing an avalanche photodiode
(APD). The rectangular pocket accommodated the DIP,
while the four corners provided connection to the
circuit board via screws and standoffs. The hole in the
middle allowed light to get to the APD. The cylindrical
extrusion opposite the DIP pocket allowed the unit to
be attached to custom holders for attenuators, lenses, etc.
Material: anodized aluminum
- Optics cover plate: This piece mounted over an optic,
permitting some clear aperture in the middle.
Material: anodized aluminum
- Optical bench rail: attaches to an optics bench,
allowing translation stages to clamp on in such a way
as to be able to slide for adjustment.
Material: stainless steel
- Slotted clear thingamajig: Don't know what this is,
but it clearly (haha) allowed something to slide within it.
Material: lucite/acrylic
- Detector jacket mold: tab formed pocket in silicone rubber mold
that later housed a detector of the same size.
Material: aluminum 6061
- Collimator disk holder: A disk insert was moved from
one position to the other in a X-ray detector
collimation test.
Material: aluminum 6061
- Flanged cylinder: optical separator separating two lenses; part
of the preparation for the Gamma Ray Observatory.
Material: aluminum 6061
- Fine collimation fixture: part of x-y stage to capture
tungsten collimator assembly.
Material: aluminum 6061
- Launch lock mechanism: used to hold (cage) a part
during the vibration-crazy launch of a satellite; later
retracted.
Material: stainless steel 316
- 80/20 structural beam: A short section of 1.5-inch extruded
structural beam. Like an I-beam, this geometry puts a lot of material far
from the central axis for rigidity. See the 8020 website, profile 1515
for more info. For an example of this "erector set" in use, see
the APOLLO
cabinet (third picture down).
Material: clear-anodized aluminum
- PMT vibe fixture: presumably something that was used
to mount a photomultiplier tube (PMT) in a vibration
test prior to launch.
Material: aluminum 6061
- Assembly fixture 1: With next part, a pillow block for
supporting a photomultiplier tube on a horizontal axis for balancing a
detector platform prior to launch in the X-ray Timing Explorer (XTE). Note: you must treat this as two separate parts put together in SolidWorks as an assembly, supplying drawings for both pieces.
Material: aluminum and stainless steel
- Assembly fixture 2: See notes for previous part. Note: you must treat this as two separate parts put together in SolidWorks as an assembly, supplying drawings for both pieces.
Material: aluminum and stainless steel
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