Date: 3/20/2004
To: Darren Marsh
Cc: Bill Jimenez, Jeff Tice, Jerry Clinton, Nick Virmani, Dave Rich,
From: Richard Gobin
RE: Omnetics Connector trip report
PN: A8485-001 Rev. F Omnetics Nano Connector. PO: 40836
Omnetics
Connector Corp.
7260 Commerce Circle East
Minneapolis, MN. 55432
I visited Omnetics
Connector Corporation on Wednesday & Thursday, March 17 & 18, 2004 for
the purpose of an on site Source Inspection, review of Omnetics updated
corrected traveler and internal process review for DLC 0412, qty. 100 of the
A8485-001 rev. F 37 pin male nano connector. This visit also included review of
Omnetics Connector Corporation newly machined aluminum assembly bonding fixtures
for the A8485 & A8486 part numbers, as well as a review & witness of
the shear test digital force gauge set-up for the A8486 samples tested to
destruction.
I meet early Wednesday
morning with Omnetics Quality Manager, Darren Bentley to brief him on my
planned agenda for my two day on site visit. This was my third visit to
Omnetics Connector Corporation this year and again, I was granted permission to
review the entire assembly build process from incoming receipt of product
through final QA & shipping, including all relevent documentation.
My primary focus was to assure
the internal manufacturing process is in control to an acceptable level and the
LAT tracker team receives a reliable flight worthy nano connector. From my
previous visit, see trip report dated March 6, 2004, I had rejected the current
aluminum assembly fixtures for poor machining consistency which was the cause
for product rejection during my Source Inspection due to mis alignment and
bonding between the PPS insulator to the alum housing, resulting in an ~ 8-10
mil gap at mating.
Omnetics scrapped all four previous
aluminum bonding assembly fixtures and had four new bonding fixtures machined
from an outside machine shop ready for our next production run. I inspected all
four new fixtures and had product bonded and cured, then performed 100% visual
under 10X magnification.
The four new aluminum bonding
fixtures had evidence of first article and drawing release. These new fixtures
are a vast improvement to the previous fixtures Omnetics had utilized for previous
flight production. These new bonding fixtures have the capacity of holding six
(6) nano connectors per fixture during the epoxy bonding & cure process.
Six (6) connectors were
pulled from the production lot from the new male bonding fixture for shear
testing. The results proved to be positive: Ideal: > 40.0
Sample Force: lbs.
1.
72.80
2.
56.00
3.
51.80
4.
74.80
5.
61.20
6.
53.70
Omnetics performed their
shear testing on a calibrated 200lb Chatillon Model UTSM compression Digital
Force Gauge. (calibration due 3-11-05).
Related to additional
fixture issues, are four (4) new bonding fixtures for our redesigned A8486 PN.
It was discovered @ SLAC QA, two weeks ago, during a 25 mate/demate test of
five (5) connectors from the new design A8486 of the mate/demate to the A8485 PN
that one of the five connectors had an alignment failure. Omnetics was notified
of this failure. Omnetics stopped production of the 100 lot qty ready to ship
and performed 100% alignment test on all 100 A8485 connectors. Thirty (30)
connectors failed this alignment test. Omnetics found the root cause to be the A8586
aluminum fixture, per E-message from Omnnetics dated, March 8, 2004, “the
problem lies with our fixturing to bond the male bodies into the alum housings.
With the female fixtures, the contacts are located with respect to the nubs on
the alum housing and are misaligned.”
The newly machined aluminum
fixtures have been first articled and test production connectors have been built,
assembled, bonded and inspected for acceptable alignment. I examined all four
fixtures and found them to be acceptable. These fixtures have vertical slots
and two pin circular holes to stabilize alignment in the X & Y axis. I
believe these newly machined A8586 aluminum fixtures, future alignment issues
will be eliminated.
Omnetics will provide
photographs of both PN fixtures per my request which I will share with you for
your review as I receive them.
Omnetics has corrected all
production travelers to state: (operation step 9) “Place on fixture F0431 and
oven cure at 250 F for 15 minutes.” (Hysol resin Epoxy RE-2039 & Hardener
HD-3561). I had them also correct the qty of FLOCK (Cab-O-Sil) used during the
7-2 epoxy mix from “as needed” to “1 teaspoon”.
I reviewed Omnetics
rejection data of our product. I found this to be acceptable. Omnetics
currently utilizes an internal MRR (Material Rejection Report) which is
retained in their QA dept.
As I stated in my previous
report, dated March 6, 2004, Omnnetics uses Spec Plating Corp and Arrow
Cryogenics for the re-anodizing and bead blasting. All alum shells and PPS
insulators for the A8485 PN have been bead blasted and re-anodized and are in
stock. However, the process is different for the alum shell, PN A8486. This
aluminum shell will be bead blasted only on the contact surface interface
between the PPS & alum body. This PN will be masked off during bead
blasting and will NOT been sent back to Spec Plating Corp for re-anodizing.
Five samples connectors of
the PN A8486 will be sent to Nick Virmani for qual testing due to the new
design as soon as SLAC LAT receives the first production run of an anticipated
100 qty. Estimated ship date to Nick Virmani for qual testing is March 30,
2004. (Qual to Mil-Std-1344 method 1003 & 3002, Temp Cycling & Low
Signal Level Contact Resistance).
Omnetics has the capacity
to build 100 qty lot of both part numbers per week.
Summary:
Omnetics travelers updated
and corrected to capture epoxy cure temp/time of 250F/15 mins.
New Omnetics Alum bonding
fixtures tested and found acceptable. Old fixtures scrapped.
No epoxy application or mix
or cure changes.
Shear testing results
acceptable. Results available from Omnetics.
Action: Tom Perry to
complete shear testing of 5 A8485 connectors sent to him in February.
Action: Jeff Tice to
forward 5 A8486 connectors to Nick Virmani for qual testing due to redesign.
Action: Omnetics to forward
to Richard Gobin digital photos of new alum fixtures.
Action: Omnetics to assign
fixture identification numbers to all flight fixtures for production runs and
annotate these fixture numbers on travelers.
Respectfully,
Richard Gobin