It moved!

A lot has progressed in the lab since we first started ramping back up in early July. One major development is that we moved the ice rig. Step one was to disconnect all of the wiring and hydraulics from the frame.

Then Tony and Tom from traffic came over to load both parts onto a pallet.

Meanwhile, Jake and Ted were back in the new lab, prepping the anti-vibration table, making sure it was perfectly horizontal and up against the back wall.

When the table was all prepped, Tony used the jack to put the rig on the table. They found out the hard way in the old lab that it is too heavy to lift by hand - it doesn't look like much, but those steel and aluminum plates add up.

All of this moving was timed just right, because the next day, Steve from the RG group was coming out to install the rig's dedicated Hydraulic Power Unit (HPU). It, and the other two HPUs for the lab, sit in a metal shed just on the other side of the wall behind the rig.

With only 1200 hp, this baby is so quiet. When you turn it on remotely in the lab, you have to touch the line and feel the mild vibration to be sure it's even running. But the bright green "ON" light is also a good indicator.  After Steve left I did some cosmetic work, tidying up all the wires and placed a 1/8" plastic cover cut to fit  the table so that dust and hydraulic fuel don't gum up the 1/4-20 holes all over the table. Ain't it pretty?

Next week Vishaal arrives to start his research, so we'll go through some drills and calibrations and get the cryostat up and running.