MDM Trouble Report for 2003 Sep 19

Telescope: 2.4m
Observer(s): Paust (Dartmouth)
Instrument: Echelle

Problem(s) Encountered:
So...  mirror covers...  there has to be some way to make sure they close in the proper order.

I got all the louvers and the slit open, slewed east so I could take flats, flipped the mirror covers switch, and nothing.  Nothing at all.  Not even a good pneumatic hiss.  Climbing the ladder quickly showed that the west petal was on top of the north petal preventing it from opening.  On my last run, I had the same problem, so I figured that fixing it this time would be old hat.

I slewed the telescope north for better access to the petal, climbed the ladder again, carefully positioned myself to the petal wouldn't fly open and hit me, and then started pulling.  After a few good tugs, the north petal was free and opened.  Unfortunately, while I was safe from the west petal hitting me, I hadn't thought about the fact that it would actually want to close until the south petal opened.  Sadly, the south petal was also under the petal in my hand so instead of dodging an opening mirror cover, I found my hand pinned between the petal and the edge of one of the struts.  (Initially, I was going to say  crushed , but that makes me think of blood gushing from wounds whereas I was only dented.)  After standing on the ladder for a few seconds pondering why I was caught like a rat in a trap, I was able to use my other arm to lift the petal off my hand enough to get free.  It's good that there were no elementary school children around after that, they would have had to cover their ears.

Since my middle finger was now pronouncedly skinnier in one part, I took a few minute rest, and then positioned the telescope so that gravity would help me pull the stuck petal off the south one.  A few good tugs and all the petals were open.

So, I have a few thoughts...  First, I probably should have told someone that I was going to unstick the covers.  2.  It would be nice if there was a good way to prevent the covers from closing in the wrong order.  3.  It would be really nice if there was a non-dangerous way to unstick them.  Maybe an eye bolt with a rope that you can unfurl and just pull on from the ground?

In the end, I got everything solved in time to get flats, my finger is ok, although mildly swollen and slightly sore, and I got the covers to close correctly by slewing east before I shut them.  It would just be nice to not have this problem in the future.

So, with my slightly bruised  middle finger, that's a fairly verbose trouble report.

------------------------------

Submitted on 2003 Sep 20 [6:50:14]