[IndHobby]

Gas: $76.81
Tolls: $12:90
Munchies and smokes for a 562 mile road trip: $14.32
Making a customer happy at 3:15am: Priceless

He really is happy in the photo, well at least as happy as anyone can be in the wee hours.

The technical side of the story is simple.
Weird stuff happens.

As pointed out, the mechanicals were fine; the column was a fair bit off on the top, but nothing that a shim couldn’t fix.

On the tougher troubleshooting side, was the electronics/computer.

Two Gecko’s are going back to Gecko for post-mortems.

The ground loop problem was seriously freaky.

The computer/parallel port is still an iffy situation, and a different parallel port expansion card is going to be tried, and I will post the results of that.

It seems as the Mach2 / Gecko 201 issue is popping up like a virus and needs to be looked at more in general. (To solve this problem I already have a Gecko 210 being sent to replace the 201).

Enhancements to our products/services:

Very shortly we will be introducing the HotWire kit, which will completely wire the mill.
(Wiring was not the problem here and MetDetect did a very good job, but this way everyone will be on the same page).

We will also mulling over the idea of offering a Crash Kit which will be everything necessary to trouble shoot the electronics.

It will include (more or less):
Hand held oscilloscope (like mine)
Digital multi meter or 2 with clip leads and everything
Complete set of Geckos for your machine
A bunch of discrete components, (resistors, diodes, stuff like that)
All the little things that I just reach into my electronic tackle box to get

This way, we (the customer and myself) both know the schematics, the wiring and what signal/voltage should be where; and we can walk through a problem over the phone.

The price of the Crash Kit will be basically the deposit for the test equipment and everything and will be refunded upon return.

If a customer needs to swap something like a Gecko from the kit, there is no charge as those are covered by warranty from me; and the discrete components and the other little things (unless you just keep everything) are free.

On the lighter side of this problem:

I was an electronic warfare tech in the Army for 6 years, and without a doubt have seen some really weird stuff. From an engineer side, you want to find the root cause, from a practical side, you want to solve the problem and call it quits. That’s why a tech will just say “Stuff Happens”, they understand (or should) that searching for every possible anomaly could take weeks or months and will often lead to an unsolvable conclusion.

That being said, here is my personal “Stuff Happens” opinion:

The walls of MetDetects basement are painted gray. It was fairly warm down there, which is odd for basements. I think there is a mis-guided cellular tower that is turning the entire room into a BIG microwave oven.

Least that’s my two cents.

We are Industrial Hobbies

[MetDetect]

The giant microwave theory is interesting Aaron but I'm betting it was the glob of loboster claw I noticed fused to the gecko 320, wonder how that got there on a kit from Maine!

I recommend the electrical kit route for peole like myself who can wire a 110 outlet but have minimal electrical experience. First you know the cost up front (I lost count how many trips I made to Grainger, Lowes, and Radioshack and I don't have the nerve to add up all the sales slips). Second I had quite a bit of fun assembling the electrical but trying to figure out the electrical was not much fun, especially when you consider how much money could go up in smoke if you screw it up. A kit would eliminate the figuring it out part and let you get on with the fun stuff.

Next pics but we'll start a new thread for that.