We finished installing the mirrors on the telescopes this afternoon. We ran into a snag Wednesday when we found a possible mixup in the secondary mirrors, and we found out this morning that the mirrors for Sites #1 and #2 were in the wrong crates. We swapped them today and finished early this afternoon. After installation of the mirrors at each site, we went ahead and adjusted the counterweights to bring the system into balance so we can move the telescopes around with the motors.

Once we discovered the problem, we stopped working on the secondaries for a while and went ahead and finished the primary mirror installation at Site #3. This was the refurbished telescope, so it had most of the radial support blocks already glued onto the primary. We tried to use them but they didn't fit with the new mirror cell that was provided, so we had to remove them and glue them on again. We used a cigarette lighter to soften the glue, and they popped off pretty easily.

After the installation of the primary at Site #3, we went ahead and installed the secondary mirror on that telescope as well. We were able to run the video camera and try to do some polar alignment. We got the azimuth fairly close, but we have a ways to go on the elevation. We will try to finish the polar alignment at Site #3 tonight.

In other news, Ruben and crew finished installation of the mirror loading beams at each of the sites yesterday. Photos at the end of this post.

Here are some photos of the primary installation at Site #3, and some post installation photos and videos. No photos of us finishing the secondary installation, It was pretty hectic so I didn't have time to take any.

Here is Ian heating up a radial support block with a lighter.

Prying of the block after softening the glue.

Mirror in the cell, ready for gluing.

Bolting the mirror cell onto the telescope.

Both mirrors installed at Site #1.

Moving the telescope with the TCS at Site #1.

Both mirrors installed at Site #2.

Moving the telescope with the TCS at Site #2.

Both mirrors installed at Site #3.

Moving the telescope with the TCS at Site #3.

Here are some photos of the mirror loading beam at Site #1. The ones at the other sites look the same.