Question 1. (received 01 Feb 01)
What is the schedule and order of shipment for all these pieces of the
telescope?
Answer 1. The Swing Arm Secondary Spiders (Items 10.1 and 10.2) will be ready for packing and shipment by the end of March. However, they are not urgently required in Arizona.
The first pieces of the elevation structure of the telescope (Items 6.x) will be ready for packing and shipment by early June. By mid-June the Elevation Rolling Sectors (C-Rings, Item 4.1) should be ready for packing and shipment. By late-June, the sections of the Azimuth Frame (Items 2.1 to 2.5) should be ready for packing. All the packing should be planned and ready to implement before the end of June.
The priority pieces for shipping are the Azimuth Ring Sectors (Item 1.1) and their related equipment (Items 1.2 to 1.6). These are the last part of the telescope to be disassembled in Milan and are the first pieces to be assembled in Arizona. Thus, they should be given priority for packing and shipping. Because the Azimuth Ring Sectors fit in standard containers, we anticipate that they can proceed promptly to the top of Mt. Graham. Other pieces of the telescope azimuth and elevation structure (discussed above) should be packed and shipped on a practical and efficient schedule.
The three M1 Cells (Items 7.1, 7.2 and 8.1) and the Aluminizing Bell Jar (Item 15.1) will be ready for packing and transport in mid-October. We anticipate that they will all travel out of Milan together to minimize the cost of the extra-width transportation.
Answer 2. Ansaldo will provide:
Answer 3. The center of gravity is indicated by a "G" on many (but not all) of the drawings. See for example drawings 400e063a, 500e081a, 500e084a, 500e085a, 500e090a, 500e091a, 500e098a, 500e100a, 500e124a, 500e126a. We will try to indicate the center of gravity on the drawings of all the significant and unusual pieces by next week.
12 February 2001: Drawings with updated center of gravity and lifting information are: 500e081b, 500e084b, 500e085b, 500e124b, 500e154b.
Answer 4. Generally, the dimensions indicated are the minimum dimensions for transportation. However, in a few cases the dimensions can be reduced. For the M1 Cells, and M1 Dummy Cell (Items 7.1, 7.2 and 8.1) the Lifting Hangers can be removed in order to reduce the overall length. The Lifting Hangers must be replaced for lifting.
For the Oil Central Unit (Item 19.4) the accumulator tank may be removed so that the overall height can be reduced. We have also discovered a problem that the External Frame of the Oil Central Unit is not shown in drawing 400e095a. With the external frame, the total width becomes 2520 mm. (A revised drawing will be issued.)
Answer 5. The drawings and the other RFP documents are available in digital form from the LBT website http://abell.as.arizona.edu/~hill/rfp. The drawings are listed (by number) in Section 3.1 of the Statement of Work. Normally clicking on those links with the "Shift" key depressed will allow downloading of the file.
Answer 6. The list can be found here: List of Attendees
Answer 7. Yes, we will extend the deadline for receipt of proposals until 08 March 2001. Thank you for your enthusiastic attendance at the pre-proposal meetings. (See also Question 9.)
Answer 8. The list can be found here: List of Attendees
Answer 9. We will extend the deadline for receipt of proposals until 20 March 2001. The reality of the schedule seems to be that the date for packing the telescope pieces has probably also slipped by 10 days.
Answer 10. To clarify the discussion in Section 1.1.3 of the Statement of Work: According to the original Statement of Work, all the pieces to be shipped were supposed to be ready for packing by 30 May 2001, except those specifically listed in the second group which will be ready by 15 September 2001. The second group includes: M1 Cells (7.x), M1 Dummy Cell (8.x) and Aluminzing Bell Jar (15.x).
The present reality is that the pre-erection of the telescope is running slightly behind schedule. We are presently anticipating that the last of the pieces in the first group may not be ready before 30 June 2001. We can imagine additional slippage of the schedule, but you should propose assuming that the two groups are ready for packing on 30 June and 15 September. See also the answer to Question 1 above.
Answer 11. In general, the drawing is more likely to have the correct dimensions. In the particular example of items 11.4 and 11.5, it appears that the drawings have been interchanged between these two items.
Answer 12. Items with destination "N/A" (Not Applicable) are items which are not included in this round of shipping (and should not be included in your proposal). Mostly these are pieces which have not been fabricated yet, or which may be fabricated far from Milan.
Individual items with a blank in the destination column will have the same destination as the associated item group.
Answer 13. 95% of all the items have some machined flanges on them that need to be protected from both impacts and weather. So all pieces are at least somewhat sensitive and require protection. We are open to consider creative alternate proposals that reduce packing costs while still protecting the pieces.
Answer 14. With the exception of Oil Central Unit (19.4), any of the smaller pieces can be turned in any orientation that you prefer. Most of the larger pieces have some preferred orientation with respect to the lifting points. The general statement could be that items which do not have a specific "Drawing for Lifting Points" can be turned in any orientation. The Azimuth Frame Structures (2.1 and 2.2) are an example where turning them (with an engineered plan) on their sides might simplify the transportation.
Answer 15. The "X" drawings are the construction drawings and they have a lot of excess information and dimensions compared to what is needed for packing. We felt that it was less confusing to create a specific set of "E" drawings for the Dimensions and Lifting Points of each piece. Therefore, we did not include the all "X" drawings in the RFP packages.
However, see the answer to question 16.......
Answer 16. We apologize for both omitting the dimensions of these items, and for not giving you the 821x series drawings that show the dimensions.
Items 15.2 "Lifting Brackets for Bell Jar" must travel with the Bell Jar, and are shown in drawing 821x013b.dwg. The dimensions of Item 15.2 are 200 x 213 x 180 mm.
Items 15.8 and 15.9 "Centering Device for Bell Jar" and "Hanger for Centering Device" are accessories that can travel separately from the Bell Jar. They are shown in drawings 821x011b.dwg and 821x016b.dwg. The dimensions of Item 15.8 are 690 x 480 x 250 mm. The dimensions of Item 15.9 are approximately 500 x 500 x 400 mm.
Items 7.8, 7.9, 8.7, 8.8 "Hangers for Locking Devices" are shown in drawings 821x014d.dwg and 821x015d.dwg. The dimensions of these items are approximately 250 x 110 x 500 mm and 250 x 300 x 1000 mm.
Answer 17. You are correct. The length of Item 20.5 "Drive Mounting Device" is 1000 mm as shown on the drawing.
Answer 18. Answer TBD. (But they are fairly small; < 1000 mm.)