C11 Mechanical Alignment & Collimation

Tube Squaring and Sanding

The CF tube high spots are sanded down on a flat surface and the measurement done again until there is no run-out left.

This is a tedious, repetitive process as the primary cell casting has to be re-bolted on the tube each time to measure the run-out. But with a bit of practice it is very easy to do. A little sanding goes a long way so working slowly and methodically is the key here.

The sand paper used was silicon carbide P80, so pretty rough. CF is hard on tooling but relatively easy to sand. The stone used is a left-over piece from a kitchen benchtop as it was heavy, nice and flat to work with. The sand paper sheets were glued to the stone bench.