Mechanics Workshop

The service is available at INO headquarters in Florence and at the Unit of Pisa. Since the early 2000s at the Unit of Capalle it has been possible to perform minor mechanical working of small parts, even without the assistance of specialized technicians.

Location and equipment resources

a) Arcetri

Presently, the INO mechanical workshop includes an office with desks for study and design purpose, equipped with PC available to technicians.

The overall area is divided into four parts: two main zones at the same floor, where the working machines and study desks are located, and two minor rooms connected to the main area, where material storage and tools for cutting can be found.

The main machine shop is located at the headquarters of Arcetri and there it is available a fully automated three axis work center: it represents a possible support for processing requests from other public or private institutions. The organization of the room in the mechanical workshop allows to locate two desks with PC for office use, for each of the technicians assigned to this service. The total area of the mechanical workshop can be divided into four areas / zones: in the two largest at the ground floor is the bulkier machinery and the two PC workstations. Other two smaller rooms are placed on a higher level; one is used as a warehouse for the material to be processed and the other mainly to host the cutting tools machines.

The Existing tools and machinery can be classified as follows:

1. mechanical vertical machining center, three axes mod. VMC 500 programmed via PC software;
2. several machineries for working on medium size objects, amongst them it is worth mentioning: 2 lathes (one CNC and one parallel), a milling machine, a bottoming drill cutter, a pendulum action jigsaw, and a miter saw;
3. mechanical instruments for secondary processing and / or precision refining, among which there are a 3-axis viewer, a universal divider, a sandblaster, a chamfering and two welding machine (one using oxy-acetylene);
4. accessories for above mentioned working machinery, high precision and assembling tools commonly used in a mechanical workshop.

b) Pisa
At the Unit of Pisa there is a Workshop Service derived from the structures of the previous IFAM. In 2013, the Institute made a considerable financial effort devoted to the renewal of some machinery and the update of the existing ones to the current safety standards. There are three large rooms, one of which is used for the welding and one mainly as a warehouse.

Equipment and machinery can be classified as follows:

1. machines for machining of medium-size objects, among them in particular are cited: 2 parallel lathes, a universal milling machine, a sliding table drill, two drill presses, two band saws;
2. mechanical instruments as a bender, a TIG welder, two grinding wheels for tools sharpening
3. accessories for above mentioned working machinery, high precision and assembling tools commonly used in a mechanical workshop.

c) Capalle
A lathe and drill press along with a working bench are located in the entrance hall: the necessary safety protection is provided.

Skills, past and future activities

The personnel of the INO mechanical workshop have more than twenty years of experience, as a result of close collaboration with the scientific and research staff of the Institute. The recent renewal led the mechanical workshop to a very high level of functionality and reliability.

The mechanical workshop activity has not been limited to supporting research in INO laboratories, but has also been extended to outer works of machining for the University of Firenze and OPD (Opificio delle Pietre Dure).

As an example, it is worth to remember several mountings for optical components, thermostated cells for liquid crystals, mountings for Nd and diode laser cavities, including the supports for the crystal, the gratings, and the pumping diodes .

Human Resources