[RASMB] how to fix an old XL-A

Borries Demeler demeler at biochem.uthscsa.edu
Fri Apr 4 10:56:02 PDT 2014


+1 on having a service contract on the XLA. One of our's I think is
serial number 8, so one of the first, and is still working A/OK with
very competent service from Beckman, and we are happy with it and it
is still performing like on day one. We also had many parts replaced,
but having a service contract is a must.

Regarding the WinXP situation: Has anyone thought about running WinXP
under a VM on a much more powerful computer? The only issue may be that
some of the boards which require ISA slots may need adapters/add-on cards
to work in a PCI-X slot.  Most VMs can be configured to access hardware
addresses directly and bypass the host OS. Then you can firewall the
guest OS and run the host OS normally on the network, and you could 
share the drives.

-Borries

On Fri, Apr 04, 2014 at 08:49:57AM -0700, John Philo wrote:
> 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
> 
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