lessons learned:
Soldering a hole in the Kapton did not work. We tried up to 850F on two different soldering irons and we could not defeat the Kapton.
We should’ve known when DuPont’s tech sheet has “none” listed for melting point.
It seems that the soldering technique might have been true for the thin plastic (not Kapton) used on the epix10k2m.
How to cut the hole: (This was a 2-3 person job. tough to do properly by yourself but not impossible)
- find and clean the cutting mat (currently one is on the bench outside of CXI)
- glove up to keep the kapton film and tape cleaner
- find a thin Kapton sheet large enough to cover the face of the detector. (~410mm x 410mm)
- tape it taught with Kapton tape (on the metal frame around the face)
- unscrew the conical tip from the detector flight tube
- slide the coneless flight tube in slowly until it contacts the Kapton. be careful not to tear the film, but push it against to create some tension in the film.
- trace the circle with a sharpie
- unmount the film
- place it on the cutting mat
grab the largest punch in the hole punch kit (~1/4")
- center it over the sharpie circle
- hammer it to punch (~3 times). you want to make sure you cleanly cut through and not have to peel any straggling piece off.
- before leaving the bench carefully remove any of the old Kapton tape you used for alignment
- go back to the detector with some assistants, Kapton film and Kapton tape
- cut fresh pieces of new kapton tape and leave them nearby, or have an assistant ready to cut some lengths of tape.
- slide the flight tube through the detector with the cone attached
- slide the hole in the Kapton film over the flight tube. the hole might be tight around the 7mm shaft diameter of the flight tube. so an additional person might need to push the tube further through without tearing the film.
- while one person holds the top two corners of the film, a second person can bring the tube back and it should bring the film towards the detector face with it due to the tight film.
- once it's in position, on the face, grab new tape. Start with one corner, make sure the film is flat before you set the next corner. Once the four corners are taped, get the midpoints of each side.
- Since the movement of the flight tube is tight, move add more tape as necessary so it does not accidentally pull/push off.
the tight film hole will get caught at the junction of the straight tub shaft and the conical endpiece. You should consider rotating the tube shaft as you slide it in or out, and it will catch the film less