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Author
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Topic: Shuttle fit check tiles and tracer patterns
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Rocket Chris
Member Posts: 451
From: Guttentag
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted 02-09-2011 07:40 AM
   
Can someone can tell me more about this shuttle tile? I owned the tile without any scrap paperwork, although the tile is scrap tagged. The tile is quite light and seems to be made of a kind of foam. It is a little bent (probably for the area of the reaction control system/the black strip on the shuttle nose). As I know fit check tiles are just green. This one has a dark blue colour. Therefore I guess that its also a kind of demonstration of fit check tile. On the tile there is a faded yellow ID code. The same code is in white on the tile again: FWD307-1 121-203
OML P1 OV 103
T36656
V070391020-393 Has anyone a clue about the tile? |
Rocket Chris
Member Posts: 451
From: Guttentag
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted 04-06-2011 02:40 AM
So mysteries are finally cleared. The "tile" I owned is quite rare item. Due to my FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request at Johnson Space Center, I finally got a great response: it's a tracer pattern for machining the original tile. It's like a negative that is used in a kind of key-machine. The outline and shape from the negative will be transferred onto the TPS material and automatically cut out.JSC provided the whole paperwork to that item. I guess this one is also a great item of history concerning the building of Discovery. Due that fact I didn't know that the original tiles were made this way. |
garymilgrom
Member Posts: 2139
From: Atlanta, GA
Registered: Feb 2007
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posted 04-08-2011 11:23 AM
Related to this thread, here is a tile fit check instrument. This was held against the orbiter first, a measurement taken, and then pressed against the back of the tile. If all the lights glowed it was within spec to install the tile. The item says it is accurate to .005 inches. This is a very old piece and I'm not sure if it's used anymore. It is serial no. 001. I also don't understand how the RTV glue, which would seem to take up any irregularities, plays into this situation. 
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Rocket Chris
Member Posts: 451
From: Guttentag
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted 08-19-2024 12:56 AM
I still have some questions about tracer patterns and their colors. I know that: - HSRI tiles are black.
- LSRI tiles are white.
These were flight hardware. But now having other non flight tiles with the original VO70-ID such as a tracer pattern (a bluish one, as can be seen here above). Real flight tile would be a LSRI white one, so inverted colour. Inverted color white (as flight tile would be black HSRI tile). Was it common that non-flight tiles were in the inverted colour to prevent installation? Were there different types? Also like placeholders for ferry flights (Gary Milgrom suggested them as "delivery tiles" on an older post related to engineering and test tiles). |
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