Assembly of the 2.5m Integrating Sphere at the PTB in Braunschweig
	The truck moves forward A first glimpse of the loading Preparation for unloading A hemisphere, still packed The supporting structure Transport operations. . into the carcass. The racks are already in the antechamber. Now to the hemispheres. With all strength united to the ground. the second one must also come down, but with the special rack it is quite easy! If everyone mucks in, it gets down to the ground. It is narrow inside. High steps needed to be overcome. Unloading is finished now. Now the assembly begins. First the ceiling rack is installed again. the ceiling. The ceiling gets closer... and it fits precisely. The last centimeters up to the ceiling now just for some aligning. The holes for the pegs are bored With the drilling hammer. Afterwards the rack is immersed in the water. The rails to open the spheres are next. The ceiling rack is hanging! Now it's the sphere racks' turn. First insert the moving part. Only very small tolerances are permissible. One half is inside It fits! Now make up the second rack. Up it goes! And on every of the four corners... ... screw them together well. Then tackle the assembly... ... of the drive quickly to open the sphere. Now the assembly of the sphere begins. At the beginning there's the unpacking. No transport damage is present. Preparation for the installation. The hemisphere moves upwards. The first glance into the inside of the hemisphere. And further... ... on its way up. Be careful with the port plate. The first hemisphere is almost up and above. The first hemisphere is in its rack. The second hemisphere is brought into the hall. The protective plastic film is removed as well. After lifting it off the film may be removed. Now the raising to its final position commences. The second hemisphere is hanging. For the first time its dimension becomes obvious. The suspension in the detail Dr. Groebel proudly between his work. First closing of the spherel Slowly the... sphere is being closed. The sphere is closed shut. The end of a long working day. Relieving the suspension for the adjustment of the sphere. The rear suspension for angular compensation The adjustment is finished and fixed. The rear limit switch is connected. The strut insert for angular adjustment. The front limit switch is connnected. Team 1 Team 2 Small transport damages are eliminated. And the flange is cleaned. The coating is examined thoroughly. Small damages are immediately repaired. The sealing tape is put on the flange plate. The color for the coating is prepared. And afterwards varnished. One further final coating will take place after the introduction of the air condition technology in the building The coating in the "high speed drying" The varnishing gets its final colour: PTB blue