Procedure for placing glue bead on C-cage

Equipment Needed

  1. The pot life for Araldite epoxy is ~1 hour. Be sure you will be ready to attach the assembly within this time frame (preferably with some grace period!) before applying the glue bead to the cage.

  2. Rotate C-cage on gluing jig until face to be glued in on the upper side and horizontal.

  3. Glue gun is on a rolling cart next to one of the environmental chambers. Roll it next to the optical table, and plug in power cord and quick-release gas fitting for nitrogen. Set the foot pedal activator on the floor next to the gluing jig.

  4. Turn on the glue gun, and verify that the output pressure is 40psi. If not, pressure is adjustable by a knob on the front panel.

  5. Assemble the necessary pieces for a new syringe (syringe body, 21 gauge luerlok tip and plunger piece)

  6. Mix up araldite epoxy. Proper mix is 50:50 by weight of each of the components. 5 grams total of epoxy is more than enough for a single face glue bead. Be sure to mix the components well.

  7. Transfer epoxy to the syringe (coffee stirrer works nicely for this). Insert the plunger piece and push it forward in the syringe until all air is out of the syringe.

  8. Attach the syringe to the glue gun. It attaches to the black plastic housing. at the end of the clear hose, which has a cavity into which the open end of the syringe fits. It is locked into place with a clear plastic "wing-nut" which locks into the black plastic housing.

  9. Make sure glue dispension is working correctly by placing a trial bead on some scrap surface (there is a scrap piece of Rohacell on the glue gun cart).

  10. Apply a bead of epoxy to the gluing surface of the C-cage. The gluing surface is the raised square platform around the hole on the face. The width of the platform is ~4mm, and the bead is considerably narrower. However, the tip has been chosen such that if one lays a continuous bead moving your hand slowly, when the Silicon is attached at ~6 mils from the gluing surface, the bead will give good coverage of the gluing platform without flowing over the edge. Apply the bead to the full square gluing surface, trying to stay in the center of the platform.