Philippines for the... I've lost count...

I am back in Philippines again since 5th & will only return to Singapore on the 14th. Yesterday was the 1st day that I visited my customer's site & everything seemed to be going pretty smooth although there were a few blooper moments. Yeah, that is what I am. A blooper engineer. Sigh...

Anyway, upon arrival at Hitachi, I started work immediately on the older LEO system by replacing the turbomolecular pump & controller. As it is an upgrade to a new pump & controller, a few minor changes have to be made in order for it to work. On the old configuration, there are only 2 wires on the D-sub connector. These 2 wires are the communication lines between the controller & the vacuum board. Upon starting of the turbomolecular pump, the controller reads the speed of the pump & informs the vacuum board through those 2 wires. When the pump reaches 50% of its full speed, the controller will send the signal to the vacuum board to proceed to 'Waiting Penning' status where the penning gauge will start running & provide vacuum readings in the chamber.

This procedure is the same for both the old & new configuration except that 4 other points on the new configuration needs to be shorted together. I paid special attention to those points when I migrated the wires over from the old D-sub to the new 1, taking extra effort to make sure I do not short the wrong pins. After making the necessary changes & starting up the system, I found the system is not receiving any signal from the controller. I double & triple checked the 4 shorted pins again & again. I even checked the continuity of the cable from the controller to the vacuum board. All was well but the signal just didn't went through to the vacuum board. Lastly, I tried using back the old controller again but it didn't work too. Why must this always happen to me?

I checked all connections again & only then did I realise the dumbest mistake I made! The 2 existing wires were supposed to be connected on pins 4 & 11 on the D-sub while pins 1 & 9, 2 & 15 should be shorted together. The 4 points were shorted correctly. The problem was with the wire on pin 11. I connected it to pin 12 instead! What a dumb fuck I am! After correcting my mistake, the system pump down accordingly & I am able to move on to the other system, finally!

For the Ultra system, I installed a new filament & changed both the anode & multi-hole apertures. I have also replaced the anode & liner tube with the old configuration. Everything was over in about 30 to 40 mins. After pumping down the system I performed a bake-out & hopefully I am able to get a good vacuum this morning. I wish myself good luck!