MDM Trouble Report for 2016 Jun 06

Telescope: 1.3m
Observer(s): Kay/Moran (Columbia)
Instrument: Direct/Templeton

Problem(s) Encountered:
About half way through the night we encountered a filter wheel problem.
We were switching filters and the MIS reported a failed move and wouldn't
allow other attempts.  The failure was accompanied by a loud CLUNK,
which we later verified was from the filter wheel.

Eventually, we found that reinitializing the MIS would give us control of
the filter wheel again.  Most times, we were able to move to a new filter
after doing this, but not always.  Invariably, a subsequent move would
fail and we'd have to repeat.  The loud clunks continued, whether a
filter change worked or not.  The noise and the failures happened no
matter which direction or how many steps we were trying to go.

We sent the telescope to zenith and looked in through the door of the
filter wheel.  You can see what's making the noise (metal bar over to the
right as you're looking through the door).  One thing we noticed when
shining a flashlight in through the door is that the filters look FILTHY.
Can they be cleaned?

We were able to work -- just slowed down a bit having to reinit the MIS
whenever a filter change failed.  This, plus our time in the dome, cost us
about 45 minutes.

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Submitted on 2016 Jun 7 [3:52:31]