WFCAM Maintenance
In August/September 2020 a scheduled maintenance of WFCAM took place in order to replace the cold head. This involves removing WFCAM from the telescope, warming up the instrument, making the replacement and making sure other parts are all still in good condition, then re-mounting WFCAM and cooling the instrument back down again. This process occurs every 1-2 years. The pictures below document some of this process.
In this group of photos WFCAM is off of the instrument for the cold head replacement. (Photo Credit: Laurie Chu and Jessica Stasik)
WFCAM is bolted onto a support that allows for maintenance 
Ensuring WFCAM is securely on the mount before tilting it to horizontally 
WFCAM on its side to begin maintenance 
A view from the top end of WFCAM 
Looking at the back of WFCAM. The center olive grey component (cold head) will be replaced 
The cold head removed from WFCAM 
Looking into the hole where the cold head is mounted 
The old cold head that was removed and replaced
After the replacement is made, WFCAM is re-mounted on UKIRT as shown in the following photos. (Photo Credit: Laurie Chu and Jessica Stasik)
WFCAM is removed from the maintenance mount and the wiring has to be secured before installing back on UKIRT 
A view from the south deck of WFCAM being raised into the telescope 
A view from below of WFCAM being raised back onto UKIRT. The operator relies on guidance from those standing up on the telescope 
WFCAM is carefully lowered toward its mount 
The view from below as UKIRT is near its final position 
The wiring is lowered through the central part of UKIRT 
Workers are on the mirror cover in order to guide WFCAM into position 
The holes for the bolts must line up perfectly and takes time to get it just right 
The top end of WFCAM is then lifted after the lower component is secure 
A lift is used for workers to secure the top part to the bottom part of WFCAM 
Maneuvering the lift into the center part of UKIRT 
The lower part of WFCAM is prepared for securing the upper part. 
The upper part is lowered onto WFCAM 
The top cover is removed and is ready for observation