The dawn broke clear after a day of graupel, hail, rain, snow, sleet, and intermittent sunshine. Team locals measured better than .5” of precipitation all over the Park – which is good. Boreas looked happy.

After some early prototyping 2 weeks ago – we began in earnest on the great Tube project, prepping for the actual rolling the week of May 11. The recently completed measuring showed that there are 4 unique lengths of tubes required. Given this, the team cut 4 “pattern” tubes that can provide “truth” as we cut the tubes en masse. Cutting is being performed on the concrete pad at the entrance for stability and leveling purposes. After the tube is cut to length, the burrs are removed and the ends polished where they will bond with the tube sheet holes during rolling. All 4 pattern tubes were fitted into KMR#4 to check the length. The required tolerance is 3/8” to ½” longer than the run. All passed. We also did the first production run tube before the day ended.

The second major task of the day was to prepare the tube sheet holes. This involved de-burring the holes. The main burr was at the 3 o’clock position, and those have been removed. What remains is a furrow in the steel where the burr was, along with the striations around the rest of the hole. Getting all of the furrow smoothed out takes some effort and time, so we will be consulting with D&S on the actual requirement. A later photo below shows this very well.

Bob Peterson cuts one of the pattern tubes while Jim Scoville secures the other end. The concrete run is needed for a precise cut.

Left: Jim Scoville, Mike Antolin, and Mike Sharp load a cut tube into the correct location for that length to check for tolerance Right: The Tube is received at the rear tube sheet. Miraculously, Mike Antolin is on this end also.

On left Mike Sharp de-burrs and polishes tube sheet holes. On right – see 2 holes near top after polishing compared to lower holes with work still needed. Photo courtesy of Mike Antolin, who split time with Mike S. on this task