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View Full Version : First serious "failure"



Rodne Gold
11-30-2011, 4:10 AM
60w Tube gonners , after 840 hrs of use , $160 for the replacement. Thats 20c an hour "running cost"
However the tube did NOT fail due to being "used up" , it was engraving perfectly till it failed.
The "chiller" supplied is the cw3000 , basically a bucket and an aquarium pump and a puter fan blowing on the water- a piece of rubbish. Considering it cools with water evaporation , the level drops and the water gets hot. My operator noticed the tube cutting in and out and the water level low , the flow sensor sensed the low level and stopped the firing intermittently as the flow reduced.
Problem is , my operator topped up with a LOT of COLD ionised water , the glass of the tube was obviously hot due to limited flow and when the cold water hit it , CRACK!!!!
End of tube!!! Took an hour to put in and align the replacement (i bought a spare when I got the machine) and we were back in business.
I will NEVER buy a cw3000 chiller , will only get the cw 5000 which is a true chiller (but is about $500 extra)
So now I want to get 2 x 60w tubes as spare , a cw5000 chiller , some other bits like lenses .. will prolly be cheaper to get a new small $2500-3000 machine at the same time if one considers freight etc.

john banks
11-30-2011, 7:21 AM
This info is most appreciated and educational, thanks Rodney, glad you got it working well again.

I am told Shenhui's prices go up tomorrow, they have been selling a lot of machines at too low a price they claimed, we had to get our order in before then to avoid price rises of 5-10%, which was already 5% more than you paid like for like (10% more before negotiation). So you might want to close a deal today if you can and if this information is correct. It honestly didn't sound like they were just trying to close the deal, we had to delay ordering because we had to wait for approval for an "enterprise grant" which will cover our VAT, duty and delivery costs which is nice, but I just wish we were taxed less rather than have to try to get it back in discretionary grants!