Day 45

Morning
Looking for answers on using a choke to fix the power supply woes, Tony called up Owen, an off site contractor that did work on the S8 power supply. We went down to his office to speak with him about the design. He had a list of things that needed to be fixed including choke inductors on both sides of the scr's to limit the surge current and to reduce the voltage spikes that may be causing all our problems. He also threw in ideas for low-pass filter to eliminate the high frequency components that could jump the transformer.

Afternoon
We took a look at a little bit of the math involved with these concepts, then went back down to the office to pick up some reactors that Owen got from Platt earlier in the day. We had a chance to see his workshop which was interesting. While we were out, there was a fire in one of the bag houses up in extrusion. It was a pretty big mess by the time we got back.

Day 44

Morning
Again, trying to get the bombardment scr to work. The idea was that maybe the scr is not holding from a lack of current flow. Thinking of the scr like a diode that has a set point, the scr will pass a waveform once that set point is hit until the zero crossing of the wave or until the current is lower than a threshold. To try to increase the current flowing through the circuit, we made up a resistor board that will have around 800 mA of current flowing through each phase line to keep the scr's on.

Afternoon
With the board assembled, we went up and gave it a shot. With no load, the thing works great. After reapplying the transformer, it did not preform as well. It could be due to the inductive properties of the transformer, or perhaps a different problem. It will probably take more tinkering before a full solution becomes apparent.

Day 43

Morning
It was time for EBW 4 to get a beam going. The day started with Tony and Jim troubleshooting a few problems while trying to get the bombardment and filament current working. I followed them out to watch the beam get going. There was a succession of problems all day though. At around 10:30, they pulled the gun and took it over to Curtis for a rebuild. Got that pumping and took a quick lunch.

Afternoon
More testing. The SCR's still weren't firing right. Tony put in a few resistors to check out how the board was doing independent of the gun. Turns out it is not the gun. He got a space heater to use as a load to test the thing out. I spent time in the operator shack turning the bombardment on and turning it up. That won't be necessary once the heater gets used to troubleshoot.

Day 42

Morning
I spent some time working on my back panel drawing. I added in the Ethernet switch and the Sola power supply for that switch. With those additions in, I went back to the stirring coil panel layout and made a few updates that Jim wanted, then I took that down to him so he could have a look.

Afternoon
EBW 4 is almost ready to rumble, so I went out to watch the beam go. First Tony was checking the bombardment voltage and current, then he tried to get a beam, but there was a discrepancy between the voltage and current on the 480 panel and on the controls. After some tinkering in the high voltage cage, it seems that the current transformers were not wrapped the right number of times, so the panel is under reading by a factor of five. Jim is going to fix that in the morning and we'll try again.

Day 41

Memorial Day

Day 40

Morning
I continued to work on the drawings for the new back panel in the old welders. I found that I will need a 24V supply to power the Ethernet switch. I also put in a side view to indicate the clearance in the panel. When Tony got back from across the street, we took a look at the HPM program and made the two updates that they were requesting, but couldn't check them because there wasn't an operator running at the time.

Afternoon
Work on EBW4. Started checking I/O and getting the reset button to finally function. There was a lot of checking the Kepco's to see if they were working and tuned. Mostly it was running from the shack to the gun cage back up to the high voltage cage and around again. At least the two SCR panels were working today.

Day 39

Morning
It was time to check all the safety systems on ebw4. We got power to the safety relay yesterday, but the thing still wasn't working right. We got a few trouble shooting guides, then took a look at the safety interlocks. There was some problem in the scr control panel that was causing issues. First, it might be the isotrol, then the transformer. Turns out it was the inrush to the breaker that was causing a trip.

Afternoon
Went down to North Coast to snag a new breaker which fixed the issues up on that panel. Now the safety systems are all working except for a few switches. They put in a old zirc recycle ingot into the welder body to be used to test the beam out on. That probably won't happen soon because there are still some changes to be made in the high voltage cage as well as all the plc stuff still to get fixed.

Day 38

Morning
Went out to ebw4 and made an attempt to get it pumped down. The vacuum was too high for how long the mechanical pumps had been on it, so Rich and Tony started looking for a leak. They put helium on every possible seal and couldn't find a leak. They figured it must be some accumulated water inside the tank. It got down to about 15 microns by lunchtime.

Afternoon
Since Tim was still not around, Tony and I started the checkoff procedures. We got a list of things that need to be checked before the power for the gun can even be turned on. When Tim did show up, he started getting the Flex I/O working. We had some issues with a few systems up in the power supply. Jim took a look at a few things, and eventually we got the Flex I/O to communicate from the mezzanine down to the shack. The safety relay wasn't working, but I found a document online that should help fix the problem.

Day 37

Morning
I started to look at the cost of all the parts needed for a welder upgrade. I tried to figure out exactly which power supply I needed for the plc, then gathered up some part numbers and prices to make an excel spreadsheet. I've got all the parts that I think will be involved, but it's still fairly rough.

Afternoon
There was an issue getting the plc on EBW4 to communicate with a remote module. Tony went out to take a look at it, but that didn't do much good because he needed a newer version of the Allen Bradley software to communicate with it. Tim showed up and started diagnosing the problem which stemmed from the device not having an IP address but requiring access through IP to configure that information. Despite those problems, the end-bell was refastened and the pumps were started. The welder got down to about 2 Torr without any jets.

Day 36

Morning
Starting the backpanel drawing for the new welder plc. I started with the exact size of panel that would go into EBW 2 and 3. The only problem with that is not every welder has the same panel. I cracked open one to find that the layout is different in every way. We had to move the staircase in front of five to get at that panel with is completely different from one, two, and three. Besides that, the plc will have to go in sideways to two and three to make everything fit. It's starting to get a little nuts.

Afternoon
I was trying to find information about power needs for the plc. I don't really know what kind of DC supply (if any) will need to go in the cabinet. It really depends on the analog in module. I've been hunting for documents on the total power needed for that card slot. There was also an issue out on the HPM that I sat in on and tried to help with. There are some alignment issues with the new die block and the pins on the press. They got enough of a fix to get it pressing at least.

Day 35

Morning
I worked on updating a few drawings, then on the program for EBW 2 and 3. I wanted to get started on writing a new program. This doesn't involve much in creativeness, rather it is more about rewriting rungs in a more modern, efficient manner. Some of the old ways things were done just weren't working. I've include latching bits, and using timers for debouncing on both start and stop. This will hopefully make the program work a little better.

Afternoon
I continued to make improvements while waiting for EBW3 to get reloaded. I kept checking on it, but it didn't get going until a little later in the afternoon. I sat in on the pump down. It really wasn't exciting, but I did learn of a little issue with a leak rate, and found that this program did a better job of debouncing pressure switches than the EBW 1/5 program.

Day 34

Morning
Tim wanted a layout of what is already out at the Old Bliss panel for a contractor. I went out and got the button configuration, but I couldn't find any drawings. Tony has a booklet on his desk that came from that project upgrade, and it had everything I needed. I made copies and then scanned them in. I emailed that back, and didn't hear anything back so far. I also finished the theory of operation document for EBW 1 and 5. That program is much harder to describe because a lot of the practices don't make much sense.

Afternoon
I went out on the floor and traced out the vacuum schematics of EBW 1 and 5 to make sure the matched up with the prints that I have. Other than the missing jet, everything is the same. I came back in and proof read my draft, then looked over the things I had left to do.

Day 33

Morning
This morning I tracked down the only small edits to EBW 2 and 3 that were made. I went to the electric shop and found a print that had the new rungs on it. Just as we thought, they were for the newly installed jet. There was a meeting for the Old Bliss press this morning. There was a discussion of the budget, especially pertaining to the drawing that I made. I got the EBW 5 program from David after that, so I began to check it against EBW 1.

Afternoon
I worked on the theory of operation document for EBW 1 and 5. For the most part it got filled out, but it's not done yet. I also took a little break to go over and visit Curtis. He rebuilt the gun for EBW 7 and had it pumped down. I got a board that needed replacing in the new power supply for 4, then came back over to melting and continued to work on the document.

Day 32

Morning
I worked on the drawing of the Old Bliss press panel for Jim. He wanted something with a new panel view and a load of push buttons. I grabbed a few rough dimensions, then found the closest Hoffman enclosure and worked from there. Most of the drawings were straight from a manufacturer, so there wasn't much to the real drawing. I worked on that most of the morning.

Afternoon
Went to a meeting for the Old Bliss and Powder Met. service upgrade. They want to get some overlap of outages so that Brandon doesn't lose the press for too long. Turns out the projects are on different time tables, so they won't overlap. Also went down to the copper shop to look at a crucible out of S9 that hit water in the morning. There was a large gouge on the side. Finished up by finding drawings for EBW 5 and learning a little about SCR's.

Day 31

Morning
I finished the theory of operation document for EBW2 and EBW3. I tried my best to only describe what the program is doing, rather than how it does it. With any luck, that SLC 150 will be replaced and all of the how will change to a more modern setup. After I completed that, I started looking at EBW1. I hoped it would be the same program. I was wrong. I went through that program and deciphered it. There were some modifications that weren't in the drawing, so I had to find what those do.

Afternoon
I began the hunt for the two updates to the program. I started looking at drawings in the system. Nothing showed any of these modifications. I then moved to looking at the actual welder for some clues. Not much help there. Finally, I went to the electric shop and found a print with the hand drawn updates from 2001. I copied those down. I'll need to write up another theory of operation doc for 1, but I think EBW5 is similar in design, so I want to get that program. Jim needs a few updates for my stirring coil prints, and he also wants a box drawn up for the Old Bliss Press meeting on Wednesday.

Day 30

Morning
I started to write up a theory of operation on the SLC150 program. It might have started out a little too in depth about the program, rather than about the theory. I went out and sat in on a pump down for five. It was pretty uneventful, other than the jets coming on. They work on a set point of the hastings gauge, which doesn't have a bounce time. After about five on-off cycles the operator finally just moved the set point on the gauge higher. We should fix this in the new program. I also listened to the new ideas for the HPM automated unloading.

Afternoon
This was all equipment overview. It was vacuum today, so I was already in good shape from earlier in the week. We went over most of the stuff I taught myself, but I still learned about the design of the systems. We went and looked at EBW 7. It has a really nice layout for everything.

Day 29

Morning
It was finally time to decipher the old SLC 150 program from the welders. I spent some time on the hunt for good drawings of the vacuum system, which took longer than one might hope it would. I found that there are a range of drawings for EBW2 and 3 if you know where to look. I ran through the program, marking which systems came on when and for what reason. There was only one real snag, which was the small blower on the tank. It had some funky logic with two timers that took a little time to figure out.

Afternoon
With a better understanding of the program itself, it was time to look at the upgrade PLC. The MicroLogix 1100 has the ethernet capability that we need, but it may be limiting on the I/O expansion. It doesn't look like that unit will work. After that, I started looking at the Compact Logix that were put in the EBW4 upgrade. Those units are more expensive, but they have more functionality as well.

Day 28

Morning
Today was all about vacuum. I started by looking at the EBW3 program. Because I got a drawing that had most of the IO labeled, I figured that reading the program would be a snap. Once I got started, I realized that I didn't really understand the vacuum process well enough to breeze through the program. I started by reading about different pumps on the web. Tony came in and gave me a book on vacuum that was really helpful in understanding the different technologies (DP, Jet, screw pumps, Roots pumps, etc.).

Afternoon
With my new vacuum knowledge, I followed Tony around EBW4 a little. The upgrades are really coming together. I was checking out everything they had done, plus I was sneaking peaks at the vacuum system to see if I understood it. Around 3:00 I started reading the actual EBW3 program and found that I did breeze through it with an intuition for what was going on. I just needed to grab a few prints of the valve work and spend some time to get it all worked out.

Day 27

Morning
After finding a parametric equation plotter on the web, I began work on the welder upgrade. First, I looked at the SLC150 program that David got to me on Monday. I rewrote the program (only 52 rungs) on my own paper and made a flow diagram to see how the program really operates. I was trying to find a drawing or something to tell me what the nodes actually corresponded to on the welder when it came time for the Mecop meeting. Once I found the Zirc conference room in the admin building, we had a nice little pow-wow and then took a tour of Extrusion which I had never seen before.

Afternoon
I came back trying to find something to tell me what all the nodes of the SLC150 corresponded to on the real welder. I found that Jim's filing cabinets have all kinds of drawings, notes, and sketches for all the equipment that came in handy. I found a few drawing numbers and a couple useful sketches. I was tracing the program when I got a call about touring the R&D facility, so I took advantage of that and got to see the old meat-packing plant.

Day 26

Morning
With EBW 4 upgrades going, I was in the office working on a few projects. I emailed David and got the SLC 150 programs for EBW 1, 2, and 3 by lunch. I can start looking through those to figure out what the MicroLogix 1100's will need. I also gave my S8 drawings to Matt for a final check off. Spend a large piece of time working on the beam pattern design. I got out the old TI 83 and started plotting parametric equations to see what the patterns would look like. By lunch, I figured I could get away with using sines and cosines with cosine terms in the amplitude to get more oscillations.

Afternoon
Continued to work on the beam patterns, but got a little bit more set on what I was doing. I found the form of the equations that I wanted to use, and got the patterns that would be useful. I also took some ideas I found on the web and worked them in. I'll need to write this all into a PLC. I also got the okay from Matt and Tony, so I sent the S8 drawings off to the drafting office. Finished off the day by watching NorthWest Industrial lift the new transformer above 4.

Day 25

Morning
Went over to the other side to continue work on S7. Got the water hoses cleaned off after some time and put the new ones on. After that, came back to the melting side and looked into the network requirements of the welder project. A little in advance, but I wanted to get a better picture of what that part of the project would look like.

Afternoon
Got approval from Frank Susnik on my S8 drawings. Needed to make one more label, then they'll be ready. Just need to get Matt to sign off on them next week when he gets back from vacation. I grabbed the laptop from Jeff and took a look at the Control Logix program on S9. There is a lot of spare code on it for the movement of the guns that isn't being used. It shouldn't be too hard to make patterns, but most of it will just be doing rather than planning or designing.