October 12,
2010: 1200
lbs., Part 1 - Delivery
The
last few weeks have been interesting, and have seen the shop become
more crowded. I thought I'd share a few images of just what
is
taking up so much room.
Just what could this delivery be?
That
crate looks pretty big! So big, and heavy, in fact, that I
had to
hire a local company to use this machine to unload it. They
did
so slowly, carefully, and safely.
The crate is carefully brought through my overhead door.
You
can see the outer doors, filled with sprayed-in foam that I built to
better insulate the otherwise poorly insulated opening. These
doors make it seem like (in terms of heat loss) there isn't even a door
there. The only drawback is that they are a little bit
unwieldy
when the wind picks up here on the prairie.
It's set on the floor, and the loader backs away....
To
lift the contents of this heavy crate, I had to buy a one-ton crane.
It's adjustable in height, width, and length. It
will come
in very handy in lifting all kinds of awkward objects, like, say, a 50"
monolithic mirror that is 8" thick. You can just see one
quadrant
of it in the crate behind the mirror.
The mirror weighs about 1200 lbs, the crate and mirror together are
closer to 1700 lbs.
The
mirror is now out of the crate and on the machine for polishing, after
a LOT of preparatory steps, such as machine modifications, making
tooling, etc. The empty crate was so heavy and large that my
own
tractor/forklift would barely lift it, but I was able to remove it from
the shop for storage in my shed.
Yes, this project is a 50"
monolithic mirror, 8" thick. It is very fast, and the ability
to
handle it, both physically and optically, represents a major
step
forward in my business, a step that I am now completely prepared for.
Really,
the only new thing to me is the outer 7" of the mirror - I've made fast
30" and 36" mirrors before, but this one just happens to be a bit
larger and heavier, and I don't want to drop it on my foot!
Stay tuned for future updates on this mirror.
Please check back for future installements of "In
the Shop".
Mike
Lockwood
Lockwood Custom Optics
