The four water connections on the front end plate of the APTW that will connect to the HTV were tested for replacement with the manipulators:

• The pin on these connectors were fairly easy to remove and replace with the old pin detent tool.
• The pin detent tool could also be used to manipulate the water lines while protecting the sealing face.
• The horizontal VCR joint on the DRIVE BEAM CONE (ATA3674) could be undone with the manipulator and standard wrenches, it is advisable to use 'semi-closed' wrenches on the nut to prevent it from dropping when torquing or undoing the joint.
• Of the four water lines, only the top line could be taken out and returned by hand, testing with manipulator still to be done.
  • It would be nice for this top most line to have a clamp or something to keep the VCR nut on the bottom U-bend from falling.
• The second line from the top interferes with the bus bar when trying to be removed by hand.
• The second line from the bottom has a VCR connection obstructed by the same bus bar when trying to remove by hand.
• The bottom line catches on the other lines when trying to remove by hand, the other lines likely need to be removed first to allow this line to be exchanged.
• is the intent for the bus bar need to be removed to exchange these lines?
• The VCR nuts on the water lines located by the bottom of the bus bars will require the turntable to be raised most of the way up to access with the manipulators.

 Testing will resume in the following week for these water lines.

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UPDATE Jan 23, 2025:

We tried to exchange the for water connections on the front end plate again, but this time with the rear busbars removed (by hand, did not have time to test by manipulators):

• Notes on rear busbar removal:
  • top array of 3 screws should be reachable by the torque tool
  • side screw that fastens the sheet metal peice should also be reachable by the torque tool but with a relatively short attachment
  • optimally, the module would be raised pary-way on the turntable to reach these screws
  • we can keep the busbar attached to the flexible connector at the bottom
  • damage to flexible connector should not happen under normal circumstances, unless something heavy gets dropped onto it from a height
• General notes on VCR joints on flexible lines:
  • Ideally the male VCR are captured so we can tighten with just 1 manipulator/wrench, particularly those in the cramped spaces behind the FE plate
  • Having the male VCR end at least welded will help make starting the VCR nuts easier, if not, will need to hold it with another wrench
  • May be not a good idea to use side-load gaskets as they fall out more easily and can bridge potential gabs in high voltage carrying conductors
• Notes on replacement of lines with bus bar undone and rear VCR's undone:
  • Top line can be removed and returned with manipulators without other lines being removed, as with previous testing, a clamp or other feature to keep the VCR nut from falling down the 'U' will help. Also, it would be recommended to not return the pin detent before doing up the VCR in the rear when returning to give the line more adjustment.
  • Second to bottom line is replaceable with the manipulators without other lines being removed.
  • Second to top line interferes slightly with a rigid tube line, it is possible to adjust the bend slightly so no interference is encountered when removing/installing, removal of the line with pin detent tool not possible because the tool interferes with the HTV carriage post, soft cover for direct grabbing with manipulator recommended,
    • The VCR nut for this line is positioned in a way that makes it difficult to get a wrench on and tighten, we only have around 30 degrees of rotation, and the male side is floating which requires another wrench to hold it in place. starting the nut difficult because the line tends to come together misaligned. re-doing VCR accomplished buy quite difficult due to interference and double-wrench operation.
    • From discussion with Michael Genix, the reason for the interference with the hard line is to keep them on the same plane when the drive side is pushed in and out with the piston to prevent interference with other components.
    • Having the detent pin on the HTV end of the water line out helps with establishing the VCR joint for this line.
    • Use of side-load style gasket not encouraged here because there is a strong tendency for the gasket to slip out and fall into the HTV carriage sliding faces and other crevasses in the FE assembly
  • Bottom line requires top line to be removed for replacement with manipulators.
    • having a string on the removed line may help route the new line into place
    • there is a tendency for the line to catch on screws, shoulders, etc. when returned, good camera angles will help
    • the slot on the FE plate for this line does not have much lead in and tends to cause the line to catch, a bit particular when returning
• Replacement of the VCR's will be tested in the coming session alongside replacing other braided lines in the FE assembly.

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UPDATE Jan 29, 2025:

• The rear busbar attached to the flexible aluminum sheet conductor was successfully taken off with the manipulators:
  • Flexible aluminum sheet conductor may need to be 'tidied' after the busbar is removed and returned (see picture)
  • Washers on screws here are likely to be dropped when removing, it may be a good idea to switch these out to a different style of washer, maybe a retaining push nut (like: https://www.mcmaster.com/94813A200/)
  • The big screw holding the metal sheet on the busbar has already visibly damaged plate at the mounting point, adding a washer to this screw may be a good idea
  • It may not be necessary to have the washer be captive for the bigger screw because the busbar could be removed without needing to fully undo the screw
  • Having the big screw partially threaded on may actually help with reinstalling the busbar by keeping it roughly in the right location for the three smaller screws to be threaded in at the top.
  • Note that the smaller and larger screws were accessed with the FE in different orientations, i.e. there are different optimal positions to access these screws.
  • Access to the small screw was achieved using the extended length socket key that was recently purchased, attached onto the torque tool
  • Access to the larger screw was achieved using a ratcheting wrench and a standard socket key, the torque tool had difficulty accessing the big screw due to interference with other parts of the FE
• The VCR joint on the second to bottom water line was successfully undone and re-done with the manipulators:
  • an adjustable wrench was used for the male nut on the VCR
  • a custom 12-point secure wrench was used for the female nut on the VCR
  • there was great difficulty getting the two wrenches in place, some contributing factors include:
    • the large custom handle on the 12-point wrench,
    • the short length of the adjustable wrench << this made the operation more cramped when having both wrenches accessing the joint from one opening, also prevents accessing the male and female VCR sections from separate openings
    • small access space to the VCR joint,
    • interference with a HV shielding plate in one access angle,
    • interference with the unfastened busbar in another access angle
    • if the turntable is not raised, the manipulator shafts will interfere slightly with the shielding plates on top of the FE when trying to access these nuts << this issue is mitigated if the turntable is raised
  • It is advised to go from the second access orientation where manipulator interference with the HV shield is avoided
  • there was some difficulty starting the VCR nut, flexible metal sheet was used to raise the nut from the U-bend
    • after much trial and error, a 'pinching' action was used to position the flexible line while keeping the un-welded male side of the VCR joint from rotating, this then allowed the female VCR side to be pushed up and the threads started with the second manipulator
  • range of motion available for the wrenches when re-tightening the nut is limited by interference
    • upon reflection, because of the interference, it may be beneficial to have keep the male side of the VCR joint on the rear un-welded. This will provide an additional option for which side of the joint to turn when re-tightening, and can help alleviate issues with the limited range of motion
  • to replace the VCR gasket, for this joint it is advised to have the water tube on the FE plate unpinned, the hard line can then be swung out at the rear to provide access to the VCR gasket on the male side.
  • during testing for this joint, we found that the slide-on style of gasket stayed on quite well on the male VCR side, this is unlike the horizontal VCR joint on the second to top line where the slide-on style gasket came off and dropped many times during testing
• Portable magnetic cameras would be good to get better views of the rear VCR joints that are 'tucked away'.
• For further testing, shaft clamps for the rear female VCR side was purchased to keep the nut from falling (https://www.mcmaster.com/9648t5/), we will need to check whether these clamps affect our ability to extract and replace the water lines.

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UPDATE Feb 06, 2025:

• The VCR joint on the second to bottom water line was re-tested with full-size wrenches:
  • noticed that full size wrench on the male side interfered a bit with the braided section of the water line
  • Having a 'captive' wrench, similar in design to the low clearance VCR wrenches for the HVFT joints may be good to use for the male side of the second to bottom water line (possibly a crows foot and appropriate size of ratchet would work)
  • when un-doing the joint a wrench was dropped that broke a ceramic screw
  • it would be a good idea to have a system of catch trays for the service tray to protect sensitive components against falling tools and to prevent losing VCR gaskets and other small components where they may bridge across high potential and cause issues in the future
  • The addition of clamps (McMaster 96485T) does not affect the ease with which this line is replaced since the female side is hard lined (not part of removable section), and should not affect adjacent line replacements (diameter of clamp not much bigger than nut diameter)
• The VCR joint on the top most water line was undone and re-done:
  • undoing relatively straightforward since male side is welded
  • when fishing out this line, the gasket has a tendency to drop in a 'pit' by the main pinned support shaft for the service tray that is hard to reach. a catch tray will help prevent this
  • the VCR starter tool was useful to get the VCR nut on this joint to spin off
  • To replace the gasket here, we found that it is optimal for the water line pin to stay in place, we can swing out the flexible hose section and slide in a normal gasket or a side mounted one, assuming a VCR inserter tool is made.
  • To re-do the joint:
    • because the resting position of the female side is misaligned with the male side, a hook tool was necessary to bring them in to alignment.
    • a makeshift 'hook' was used, but a better, full-length one could be made
    • When the FE is 'square' with the hot cell window, the left manipulator interferes greatly with other parts of the FE when trying to access the nut to start
    • this is ultimately a difficult joint to re-start, with great risk of dropping VCR gaskets, but it could be done
    • the VCR starter was used to bring the nut back to finger tight
    • A ratchet and 12-point crows foot might be useful for tightening due to the small angular clearance available in this location, a standard wrench may not have enough rotational configurations at finger tight to be placed fully on the nut
• Follow up item:
  • long handle 3/8" drive ratches purchased

With this, hot cell testing of the FE plate water lines is complete.