[RASMB] how to fix an old XL-A

[John Philo]

Sabine, I agree with Jack, really your fundamental problem is that you don't
have a service contract. The immediate problem is almost surely with the
wavelength drive assembly. With a contract, if Beckman must replace many
other parts in order to replace that one, this is their problem not yours.
That situation arose recently on my XL-I, and without a contract it would
have cost us $40K to replace a very minor part! If you are going to use this
instrument you really need a service contract.
 
Like Jack's, my 1990-vintage XL-A has had most of its parts replaced over
the years, but it still works fine, and I expect it to continue to do so. My
biggest concern is not the parts availability, it is the imminent retirement
of most of the senior service engineers in the US who really understand
these instruments.
 
John

  _____  

From: rasmb-bounces at list.rasmb.org [mailto:rasmb-bounces at list.rasmb.org] On
Behalf Of John J. Correia
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2014 6:52 AM
To: Sabine Kaltofen; rasmb at list.rasmb.org
Subject: Re: [RASMB] how to fix an old XL-A


Sabine, if you purchased a new XLA/I the technology would be essentially the
same as a 20 year old instrument. When they replace parts it might be a
newer version, the monochromator mount and wavelength assembly being
examples, but its still that era technology. Beckman has the spare parts for
our machines although maybe not in stock at any moment. My machine is ~1990
vintage and we have probably replaced every part at least once. It also now
has an FDS and a turbo molecular pump, so many more things are altered. But
I see no reason we can't keep running for 10 more years since Beckman must
support the only version of the XLA/I they make. That said replacing parts
with new parts sometimes reveals other underlying problems. My philosophy
has been have a service contract and expect competent regular service, which
for 20 years I have received, with rare exceptions.

From: Sabine Kaltofen <sabine.kaltofen at biochemistry.lu.se>
Date: Friday, April 4, 2014 4:33 AM
To: "rasmb at list.rasmb.org" <rasmb at list.rasmb.org>
Subject: [RASMB] how to fix an old XL-A


Dear All,

I am working with an XL-A that is about 20 years old. It has been working
nicely but now the old lady is starting to have problems. We are
experiencing failures in setting the wavelength (wavelength servo timeout).
The problem was occurring only occasionally in the beginning but has become
more and more frequent (which sounds a bit like a mechanical part that is
becoming more and more worn out). 
Our service engineer had a look at the wavelength drive motor and the pin.
There was no obvious damage so he cleaned and reinserted everything and the
pin moved properly afterwards. However, that cure did not last, so the
problem is permanent now and the pin is not moving at all. One might have to
exchange the motor and pin - but since the machine is old and the layout of
the parts has changed, Beckman essentially suggests to exchange the whole
lamp assembly, motor pot, lamp holder et al (see picture attached). This
sounds rather expensive and they are not even sure the problem can be fixed
by changing these parts. 
I was thinking whether there is another solution, like finding a spare part
from another old machine, having parts rebuilt by the workshop etc. I guess
problems like that will become more frequent in the future, since it gets
increasingly difficult to find spare parts for older machines. Therefore I
would be grateful for any thoughts and suggestions you might have on how we
could fix our machine. 


All the best,

Sabine


Mind your carbon footprint: please don't print this message.


Sabine Kaltofen

Biochemistry & Structural Biology
Lund University
+46 462220851
sabine.kaltofen at biochemistry.lu.se

Individuals who have received this information in error or are not
authorized to receive it must promptly return or dispose of the information
and notify the sender. Those individuals are hereby notified that they are
strictly prohibited from reviewing, forwarding, printing, copying,
distributing or using this information in any way. 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.rasmb.org/pipermail/rasmb-rasmb.org/attachments/20140404/6e8c7a75/attachment.htm>