1. RPC production at GT (status and plans)

2. Status After the IFR meeting in Rome a new version of the Production Plan have been proposed to GT Main requirements currently included in the P.P. are :  Improvements of the infrastructure at GT  Improvements of the oiling process (new)  QA/QC procedures and tests during processing  pre-production test

3. Status (cont.) Infrastructure at GT Assembly shed GT have modified the shed where bakelite plates are prepared and assembled to ensure an higher level of cleanness. The assembly area have been isolated from the outside by means of a sliding door and a controlled entrance have been installed out of the shed. All products used in this area will be controlled and certified (chemical, cloth, tools etc..) All workers in this area must have clean and standard dress plus must wear gloves and hat Test station area: almost ready. All the infrastructures needed for the cosmic ray test are in place.

4. Status (cont.) Oiling system: the new method foresee a magnetic drive gear pump to force the oil-eptane mixture through a 5µm nylon filter before entering the gap volume. The filling time is controlled by varying the pump speed while the emptying is controlled by the time to bring the oil tank from the ceiling to the floor level. The Pump: waiting for an offer. The main difficulty is to find a vendor which have the pump in stock. Best offer at the moment is a Verden-maag inox pump that could be sent at GT the for the end of July Compatibility between lineseed oil and eptane with the Nylon filter must be checked too.

5. Status - The corner pieces Since the Rome Meeting it have been decided also to start to design and make a “Corner Piece” to avoid drilling the gap to insert the gas-inlet 30 corner pieces have been designed an produced (by machining) in Rome. Molded pieces (H.B. design): in production Molded pieces (C.G. design): ready to start the production

6. Machined Corner pieces 45 degree only Simple design of the piece (no guard ring) 1.7mm thick, 4mm wide slot Will be used to build five test gaps (FL02X shape)

7. Test -Gap w/corner pieces These five gaps will be used to test: gap assembly procedure with the Corner Pieces effects of different polymerization times (2-3-4 days) oil flow throughout the new gas inlet gap cleaning procedures (before oiling) with eptane electrical behavior of the Corner Pieces. (HV test) In production now. Ready for testing and inspection next week

8. Other Test -Gap w/o corner pieces two rectangular gaps with new cylindrical spacers (without the guard ring) to test oil flow and stanch around the spacers Gap#1: (1000x2000 mm 2 ) 3 alternate (standard/ cylindrical/ smoothed cylindrical) spacers rows. To be opened for inspection Gap#2: (500x500mm 2 ) cylindrical spacers to test currents In production now. Ready for testing and inspection next week

9. Near future plan 220 backelite plates are already at GT but production cannot start until the new oiling system have been installed and tested: Current estimation is the end of July  June-July activities:  Complete the test on the gaps w and w/o the corner pieces: (done in the next two weeks)  Make and test few gaps with the H.B. molded corner pieces as soon as they are at GT  Go ahead with the C.G. molded corner pieces to be used as backup solution if HB pieces fails

10. Near future plan Two scenarios possible depending on the results of the test we are going to do in June/July: H.B. molded pieces works fine (known by the middle of July) : official pre-production can start the first week of August. H.B. molded pieces fails the test. C.G. pieces are ready for the end of July: official pre-production can start, after testing the new pieces, the last week of August (after the 2 weeks August stop of GT)

11. Construction schedule The duration of the construction is tied up to the time needed to test the chambers with cosmics (roughly 10 w.d./10 chambers, including unloading and re-loading the test stand, gas conditioning, data taking and analysis) 100 chambers = 100 w.d. By starting in August up to 4 bunch of 12 envelopes each could be sent at SLAC before Christmas. The last delivery to SLAC could be done (120 chambers total) around the end of March