Strip Filaments
- Using gloves to handle filaments, carry dirty posts in the appropriate transfer container in Room 306 back to Room 312
- Using tweezers, remove as completely as possible all ribbon from each dirty post, and place the dirty ribbon in the container labeled “used Re ribbon/zone refined Re/dirty Ta”
- Place stripped posts in the “Filaments Removed” glass beaker
Polish Filaments
- Carry stripped posts in “Filaments Removed” and “Polished Filament” beakers to Room 027
- Clean counter and cover with kimwipe
- Use dremel to remove grunge and remaining ribbon
- Use safety goggles and always keep your face behind the Plexiglas shield
- Operate dremel in lowest power setting
- Use high power setting only if necessary
- Replace dremel brush head head when it becomes too small to use well (new heads are in a cardboard box on the counter)
- Make sure there is no Re ribbon remaining on the post prior to moving it onto the next stage
- Place filaments in the “polished filaments” beaker
- Bring the cleaned posts to Room 312 for chemical cleaning
Chemical Cleaning
- Using “polished filaments” beaker with watch glass, rinse posts with H2Omq and discard H2Omq
- Use a kimwipe to hold watch glass while not in use
- Fill the beaker with H2Omq, completely covering the posts
- Add tap water to sonicator and place beaker in sonicator for 5 minutes. Aim to have the water level of the sonicator to match the water level in the beaker.
- Pour off the H2Omq from within the beaker, and then rinse the posts with H2Omq
- Fill the beaker with H2Omq and place on hot plate (setting 6) until the water comes to a rolling boil
- Pour out and dry the sonicator
- When the water boils, pour it out and allow beaker to cool, ensuring the beaker is cool enough that adding ethanol will not crack the glass beaker
- Rinse with ethanol to remove water and discard excess ethanol
- Transfer beaker to clean lab (Room 306)
- Fill beaker with methanol so that posts are covered (methanol is in the middle room, under the fume hood, in the bottom left cabinet). Use fume hood to avoid breathing methanol vapors
- Place on hotplate (setting 6 or higher) until the methanol boils (should take 5-15 minutes)
- Note: If the methanol completely boils off and you return to find the beaker dry after this step, you need to begin chemical cleaning over again.
- Pour the boiled methanol in methanol waste container (in the room with the Milli-Q machine, in the left fume hood, bottom-right cabinet)
- Place the filament posts back on the hotplate to evaporate any remaining methanol at ~175°C
- Allow to cool and place posts in correct container for clean posts (“ready for filaments” box)
Stringing
- Clean countertop with kimwipe and ethanol
- Place down clean kimwipe
- Place clean posts on kimwipe
- Turn on machine and place filament in clamp
- Wearing clean gloves and safety glasses, string each filament
- Welds should be made within the top third of each post
- Hold ribbon vertical, parallel to post and weld the ribbon to the post using 3-4 welds
- Pull ribbon tightly towards other post, and weld the ribbon to the other post, using 3-4 welds
- The filament ribbon should be as flat and tight as possible, with no visual impurities, kinks, twists, etc.
- Zone refined Re is only used for zircon filaments
- Place filaments in ready boxes and return ready boxes to clean lab for degassing