We finished installing the mirrors and we spent the past few days working on getting the telescopes aligned and operating. Ian is going back to San Diego tomorrow and will fly home Saturday, and I will be here a few more days to finish up some things.

Almost everything is working now, but there are still a few issues that need to be fixed. Ian is working on a plan to return with someone else from DFM to help him out. I will probably not be able to join them, but I think I won't be needed so that should be fine. Here is the status of the three telescopes.

Site #1 (DFM Job #713):

Nearly everything on the telescope works. Polar alignment is complete, and we ran a pointing model. We found some significant backlash in the HA direction, which introduces a pointing error of about 4 arcminutes in HA (Dec is fine). We tried to solve the problem over the past three days but we could not find the cause.

DFM provided a radio control box for the dome. They basically took a handheld remote tuned to the same frequency as the remote we use to control the dome, and tied it into their TCS. The remote inside the box works, but the TCS control does not work. Ian suspects that some of the wires are crossed in the cable.

The connector on the GPS board on the computer backplate was broken. Ian will bring a new one on his next trip.

The connector was not installed on the cabling for the mirror cell fans. Ian will bring the needed crimping tool to install the connector next trip.

The eyepiece extension was not shipped with the telescope.

Site #2 (DFM Job #705):

This telescope is in the best shape of the three. The polar alignment is complete, and the pointing model has been run successfully. A couple problems are present however.

We had trouble preloading the Dec bearing. The bearing was stuck on the axle so we were unable to slide the axle in a bit. We ended up squeezing the two ends of the fork together with a 2-ton hoist before bolting down the center section, which did most of the work, but we didn't get it as far as we would have liked. We saw no evidence that this was causing any problems, but we need to keep an eye on it. (The problem will show up as bad pointing and tracking as we go to large hour angles.)

The dome controller suffers from the same problem we had at Site #1.

There is a small leak in the hydraulics under the lift table. The hoses were not installed well by the manufacturer, and a tee connector got a bit crushed by the scissors when opening the table all the way. The leak is more or less nonexistent while the table is not raised, so this is not a time critical problem. I will work with Mauricio to get someone to fix this.

One of the radial support blocks broke off of the mirror. We are not sure when or how this happened. I will work with a couple engineers from ASIAA who showed up yesterday to bring the primary mirror cell back down and reglue this block tomorrow.

Site #3 (DFM Job #714):

We finished the polar alignment of this telesecope as well, but the pointing model showed a similar backlash problem in the HA direction to that which we saw at Site #1.

The dome control box DFM sent is completely dead.

One of the fork bolt holes needs to have a tap run through it. Ian will bring the needed tap next trip to clean up the threads and install the missing bolt. (There is no danger of the fork falling off or anything like that in the mean time.)

There is a problem with the dome shutter at this site. Something is dragging at the top of the dome when we close the top shutter, which is causing it to come down crooked and hit the side of the lower shutter when it closes. We will set up some scaffolding tomorrow or Saturday to get up to the top and see if we can identify the problem. I have already been in contact with Ash about this. We are hoping it is a simple fix!

Other issues:

I installed the slit hoists out too far. I took my measurement from the center of the shutter track and not the center of the dome as I should have. (To be fair, the drawing I used wasn't perfectly clear on this!) This made the installations of the focus housings a bit more difficult than they needed to be, but we managed to find a workaround. I will work over the next couple days to move them to the correct positions. Unfortunately I will not be able to do this on a ladder like I did last time sine the domes are 7 feet higher in the air, but it turns out we can fit 6 foot scaffolding sections through the observing floor hatches, so we will set those up and do it that way. (This will also allow me to inspect the shutter at Site #3.)

The enclosures are mostly complete. all that needs to be done is to finish caulking the seams of the building skins, to plug the lifting holes on the building skins, and to install and seal the thresholds on the observing chamber doors. Ian took a look and found a couple other issues that need to be addressed:

- Only one bolt per column was installed to hold up the stairs, while two were specified in the drawings.

- None of the screws were installed on the girt sections of the girt corner plates on the south columns of the enclosures.

- A couple bolts  are loose, in particular on the girts connected to the columns next to the observing room doors and on a couple if the sunshade girts and cross members.

- The electronics vault doors in two of the enclosures will not close, since the latch cover plates on the doors need to be installed flush with the edges of the doors, not screwed onto the sides of the doors.

- One of the red lights in the electronics vault at Site #3 is wired to the white light circuit.

- Wiring and conduit were installed for the exhaust fans, but the fans themselves were not connected.

Network installation should begin soon, as I understand UNAM is close to finalizing a contract for this work.The sunshades also need to be installed, but we are planning that for next spring.

My plan over the next few days is to reglue the radial support block onto the primary mirror at site #2 and reinstall the mirror cell, move the slit hoists, and inspect the top dome shutter at Site #3. After that I am out of here! Good news is, I will have some nice photos for my DPS poster.

I will post a couple updates over the next few days, in particular regarding what we find with the dome shutter at Site #3. After that, I will be on a hiatus for a couple of weeks, after which I will meet Shiang-Yu in San Diego in early November and come back here with a couple cameras, and we will try to take a few test images.