Moving the New Mono
The new channel-cut mono from FMB-Oxford arrived in January 2023. The mono is for 24-ID-C and will be installed during the APS-U. In the meantime, we need to move it from its arrival location in the experimental hall to the dry lab so that we can begin work on commissioning. The mono is inside a steel vacuum chamber which sits on a synthalith plinth which is a synthetic epoxy and rock substrate. This entire apparatus weighs 5830 pounds or 2650 kilograms.
First we removed it from its wooden shipping container, leaving it on top of the wooden pallet. Then we attached the casters. These casters were provided to enable rolling of the mono from location to location but they did not work as well as expected, as we will see later, because of the extreme weight.
We called in riggers from the APS to help move the mono. First, we had to get it off the pallet. We lifted it off the pallet by attaching it with straps to a forklift and then sliding out the pallet. Then we thought we would push it into the lab. Little did we know it just wasn’t going to be that easy. It turns out that due to the weight, all 2650 kilograms, we could not easily turn the mono. It was impossible to make small adjustments and we could not push it into the dry lab.
Instead we decided to use the forklift to push it into the lab which was easier said than done. If first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Straps went back on the mono and we used the superior power of the forklift to carry it into the dry lab. Unfortunately, the forklift wouldn’t fit through the doors or the whole process would have been a lot easier. The casters would not turn when the mono was resting on the floor. We had to jack up the mono, turn the casters by hand in the direction that we wanted the mono to go, then push.
But we did eventually get the mono to its temporary resting place in the dry lab. It will remain here as we begin commissioning.