The CLAS, located in Experimental Hall B at JLAB, contains 18 wire chambers.
These detectors were built at ODU, Pitt, and in the EEL at CEBAF
I was privledged to be involved with many parts of the project from my time as a student
at Pitt working on R1, then at CEBAF working on R3, then at ODU building R2,
and then back in Hall B installing the detectors, to today where my responsabilities
include repairing and maintaining the detectors and associated systems.
During those years I took some photos. Not nearly enough to properly document
everything and not nearly complete as will be evident in what is missing.
But, perhaps enough to provide some insight to what happened after the initial
detector design until the experiments began. I have also included scans of the
manuals I wrote for assembly and stringing the R2 and R3 chambers.
Every picture on these pages is actually a scan of a cheap 35mm film camera.
That's correct, these are pre-digital camera images. Very primative indeed.
This was a long time ago, I must have been a student at Pitt at the time.
No date stamp on the photo to refresh my memory.
This is the R1 complete assembly. The Pitt and CMU folks did a great job.
This is one very cool looking detector assembly
This is the R2 assembly fixture setup at ODU. All the R2 assemblies were built on this fixture
Four R2 chambers were strung and instrumented at ODU and 2 were done at CEBAF in the EEL cleanroom.
For more R2 fabrication pics try here
This is the R2 stringing fixture setup at ODU. We built a cleanroom at ODU for stringing
the chambers. We also built 2 others for instrumentation and testing.
For more R2 stringing pics try here
This was the R2 stringing fixture setup in the EEL. Both R2 and R3 were strung at the same time
because the R2 had to be installed before R3. In order to maintain strict quality
controls and consistant workmanship, I wrote the R2 and R3 wire stringing handbooks.
These manuals had the step by step procedures for all stringing skills including troubleshooting and testing.
For R2 stringing manual look here
For R3 stringing manual look here
This was some of the stringers with me on the day we delivered the first R2
to the lab from ODU. Then all we had to do was install it. That turned out to be much more
complicated than had been expected. But, then things usually are.
For more R2 installation pics try here
This was the R3 assembly fixture setup in the EEL. All the R3 assemblies were built on this fixture
we named the taco because it resembled a taco shell. I guess it's pretty obvious that we ate at
Taco Bell way too much durring this period. While assembling my first R3 I trained the techs
and wrote the procedures for further assemblies in the form of a manual.
For more R3 fabrication pics try here
R3 Mechanical Assembly Guide
This was the R3 stringing platform setup in the cleanroom in the EEL.
The cleanroom was just big enough to string 2 R3 chambers at the same time.
For more R3 stringing pics try here
Only Master riggers could perform the complex lifts and delicate installation required
for R3. After installing all the detectors and making repairs, we were very expert
at the complexities involved.
Here is R3 S5 ready for final installation. At that time we never dreamed that
we would be removing the detectors so often for repairs.
For more R3 installation pics try here