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Measure Twice, Cut Once

April 11, 2013

Joe Harvey carefully measures a large piece of syntactic foam before cutting it. The foam, which is made of tiny glass bubbles embedded in epoxy, provides buoyancy for the human occupied vehicle Alvin. The piece Harvey was working on is being retained for use on the newly-upgraded sub. During its years of service, the foam developed small cracks through normal wear and tear. Harvey and fellow mechanic Vic Miller repaired the cracks by injecting epoxy into precisely-placed saw cuts.(Photo by Tom Kleindinst, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)