View allAll Photos Tagged PrecisionEngineering
I've got 25 of these small dovetail slides to assemble for use in a vacuum application, so they - and all their relevant fixings and fastenings - have to be ultrasonically cleaned and dried before use. After cleaning, they mustn't come into contact with my skin or any greasy deposits will cause problems in the vacuum environment, so I have to wear little condoms on my fingers to prevent this!
An MDE 330 to be precise...
What else could I use for today's shot other than an assembly called an MDE 330 flexure stage, one of the weird and wonderful things I assemble for a living?!
It's a thingummajig that aligns whatsits in the scientific instrument world...
Tiny pearls piled high in a gold and silver platter...
...or simply 2mm ceramic balls which are used in non-magnetic assemblies at work, heaped into a stainless steel disc which in turn sits on a brass nut...
Work is hectic at present - thank goodness! I should be grateful I still have a job in these harsh economic times, but I get so tired of doing the same old, same old, day in, day out - especially with these things!
This is what I've been doing at work this afternoon, and the reason why I now look like Clarence, the cross-eyed lion...
These plastic components are the size of a pinhead with a hole down the middle. Yup - that's it - the white dot on the piece of wire. My task was to remove the surplus material using a scalpel whilst peering at said component through a binocular microscope.
Only another 40 to do...
Well - I assembled them, at least! Sometimes precision engineering isn't always dull - not when you can get arty with the day's achievements!
I just love the neat ranks of collets in the newly painted storage boards at work...
Just for a giggle, I've softened and Ortonised them as a contrast to their harsh metallic state, and now remind me of rows of silver chocolates. Funny how I have chocolate on the brain at any given time of the day...
Had to work late tonight to 'babysit' a colleague whilst he did overtime in the workshop...
I took the opportunity to shoot a couple of pictures of my usual working environment in an unusual light - I don't normally work at night! Things look different in the dark...
Too tired for any funnies, so it's a bit of a WYSIWYG tonight.
Okay, so in the game of Flickr tag, I'm supposed to upload the 5th photo from the 5th folder on my computer...
This is it, such as it is - a picture of the components I was assembling at work this week! And yes, it IS the 5th folder because I backed everything up the other day and deleted it from the laptop!
Is it cheating if I tweaked it in Picnik to make it a wee bit more interesting?
...but not at all interesting for anyone not involved with precision engineering...
This is what's been driving me crazy all day. This job was due for despatch today, but of course, none of the component parts were ready, so it was a last-minute rush to get them assembled in time for the courier to take them.
While I was waiting for the final bits to be finished in the workshop, I indulged my artistic side and took pretty pictures of my handiwork...
Just some components I was working on today...
I'd placed these on a hotplate to cure the adhesive, each resting on the previous one so they weren't lying flat. Then my artistic side kicked in and I decided to photograph the arrangement - not realising the camera was still on B&W setting, as the components are silver against a black background!
An old optical alignment device was returned to us for servicing...
To check the alignment of the stages, one has to squint down an auto-collimator which sends a beam of light down a tube, reflecting back from a mirrored surface thus indicating by means of cross-hairs if the thing is in line.
I think...