Kev Williams
02-22-2016, 4:30 PM
Bruce (I'll leave it at that) is my New Hermes/Gravograph rep. He's the reason I have no idea that Gravograph customer service is supposed to be horrible. Bruce has provided nearly every machine we've owned or used, most of which I still own and are still in service. Usually... ;)
Which is the point of this post. I currently have 14 machines in use (plus one pantograph stored away), all in our house. The total ages of these machines adds up to over 230 years. Of those years, only about 20 years were put on by other owners, who I believe never had any major breakdowns with them. A few limit switches and a few dead CMOS batteries in EP Modules notwithstanding, my machine breakdowns in the past 40 years have been almost none. "Catastrophic" breakdowns have now totaled 3, the third happened Saturday, and the 2nd involving the same machine, my IS7000. Only other breakdown was my LS900. All 3 breakdowns: power supply.
In the first 2 breakdowns, Bruce was here within hours. Saturday's breakdown caught him in bed with contagious bronchitis, so he came today...
My LS900 power supply went out late one night a few years ago. He was here first thing the next morning. I'd already removed the PS, he opened it up and we found a cracked transistor or whatever it was. He took the PS, stopped at electronics place and picked up a new part and replaced it. Much to our chagrin it wasn't the problem, just another symptom. He brought it back, called Gravo CS, and luckily they'd just finshied rebuilding one. They sent it out overnight from France, I had it at 9:30 the next morning. By 11am I'm lasering again.
One lost-time day due to machine failure, the first one in over 35 years. And I hardly noticed as I had the Optima (ULS) as backup. And Bruce never charged me for his time for the attempted repair.
IS7000 power supply went out a few months ago, just went completely dead. And Bruce showed up with a 'loaner' PS about an hour after I called him. I've just been using it while he's had mine, he's been working on it in his spare time in an effort to save me some money. And Saturday afternoon, the loaner supply went down. Just what I need, to wear out other people's stuff!
This morning he brought out yet another loaner. This one is an old honker that doesn't even have USB outputs, but works fine. Only the machine did everything backwards. He found there was a jumper needed inside the PS, and he had to go back to his shop to fetch it. He brought the jumper and yet another PS just in case, but the jumper worked, and he had my 7000 up and running within minutes. Just had to tell the PS where my machine's 0/0 point was and I'm back to building ski-lift operator panels again. Considering it was a weekend thing, basically no lost time...
Between New Hermes building machines that almost never break, and Bruce for insuring they don't stay broke, what more could I ask?
I can't say enough good about him. http://www.engraver1.com/gifs/bow.gif -The world could use more Bruce's... :)
Which is the point of this post. I currently have 14 machines in use (plus one pantograph stored away), all in our house. The total ages of these machines adds up to over 230 years. Of those years, only about 20 years were put on by other owners, who I believe never had any major breakdowns with them. A few limit switches and a few dead CMOS batteries in EP Modules notwithstanding, my machine breakdowns in the past 40 years have been almost none. "Catastrophic" breakdowns have now totaled 3, the third happened Saturday, and the 2nd involving the same machine, my IS7000. Only other breakdown was my LS900. All 3 breakdowns: power supply.
In the first 2 breakdowns, Bruce was here within hours. Saturday's breakdown caught him in bed with contagious bronchitis, so he came today...
My LS900 power supply went out late one night a few years ago. He was here first thing the next morning. I'd already removed the PS, he opened it up and we found a cracked transistor or whatever it was. He took the PS, stopped at electronics place and picked up a new part and replaced it. Much to our chagrin it wasn't the problem, just another symptom. He brought it back, called Gravo CS, and luckily they'd just finshied rebuilding one. They sent it out overnight from France, I had it at 9:30 the next morning. By 11am I'm lasering again.
One lost-time day due to machine failure, the first one in over 35 years. And I hardly noticed as I had the Optima (ULS) as backup. And Bruce never charged me for his time for the attempted repair.
IS7000 power supply went out a few months ago, just went completely dead. And Bruce showed up with a 'loaner' PS about an hour after I called him. I've just been using it while he's had mine, he's been working on it in his spare time in an effort to save me some money. And Saturday afternoon, the loaner supply went down. Just what I need, to wear out other people's stuff!
This morning he brought out yet another loaner. This one is an old honker that doesn't even have USB outputs, but works fine. Only the machine did everything backwards. He found there was a jumper needed inside the PS, and he had to go back to his shop to fetch it. He brought the jumper and yet another PS just in case, but the jumper worked, and he had my 7000 up and running within minutes. Just had to tell the PS where my machine's 0/0 point was and I'm back to building ski-lift operator panels again. Considering it was a weekend thing, basically no lost time...
Between New Hermes building machines that almost never break, and Bruce for insuring they don't stay broke, what more could I ask?
I can't say enough good about him. http://www.engraver1.com/gifs/bow.gif -The world could use more Bruce's... :)