Steve:
I went through almost the same process with a screen printer. The dealer
that I worked with allowed me to bring the printer into my facility to try
it out. If I didn't like it, I could ship it back. I was responsible for the
shipping costs. When I found out that the printer did not work, I was able
to save the cost of shipping it back by storing the equipment here. When
someone else wanted to try it out, they paid for the cost of shipping it
from our facility to theirs.
There's no reason why you shouldn't be able to try the printer in your own
house before you buy. That way, all of your concerns can be addressed.
So, for a couple of hundred bucks, I was able to avoid a several thousand
dollar mistake!
On a side note, the equipment I was considering was also a discontinued DEK.
There are reasons for why equipment is discontinued. Need to be cautious
about being able to get spare parts. But, if you can make it work, you'll be
a hero.
Bill Kasprzak
Moog Inc., Electronic Assembly Engineering
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stephen R. Gregory [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Monday, September 10, 2001 11:35 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [TN] DEK-288 the saga continues, or "How to buy used
> equipment..."
>
> Hi All!
>
> Hate to keep beating a "dead-horse" so to speak, but I just returned
> recently
> from looking at a used DEK-288 that we've been thinking about buying to
> replace the 265 MK-1 that we have here, just trying to upgrade things a
> bit...
>
> I've been thinking about things for a bit...I think this may be a good
> thread
> because there probably more than just a few of us out there that consider
> buying used...er, "Previously Owned" (that's the polically-correct term)
> equipment.
>
> Maybe I'm being a little paranoid because it's going to be on my
> recommendation whether or not we buy this printer (there's a few more
> conditions that the finance guys would like to have, but they always do)
> but
> bottomline, I'm supposed to say whether or not the machine is a good
> investment for us or not. It doesn't help a whole lot that I don't have
> much
> experience in 288's...265's yes, 288's no. If I recommend that we buy this
>
> machine and do, then the machine doesn't perform at least as well as our
> 265
> did, it's my job...and my ass.
>
> I've bought used equipment in the past, and have had pretty good
> success...er, luck, when buying it. (That's not fair, there's a lot of
> good
> used equipment out there, and good vendors as well...).
>
> My intentions in evaluating the printer, was to look at the overall
> condition
> (you can tell a lot from first impressions) have a stencil and PCB (from
> one
> of the more challenging assemblies that we build here), a jar of solder
> paste, then program and run the printer, and finally check the quality of
> the
> print...
>
> I thought that would be a pretty good, simple, evaluation of the machine,
> along with understanding that the machine is used, and not refurbished. I
> thought that would be a straight-forward way to see if the machine was
> basically sound...
>
> Maybe some belt replacements for the ones that were pretty worn, some
> calibrations, a good, thorough, spring cleaning would be in order, etc...
> would not be out of the ordinary (in my opinion) when buying a piece of
> used
> (not refurbished) equipment.
>
> However, when I arrived after flying out to see the printer, I learned
> that
> only then, that there were no squeegees available. I was however able to
> have
> the programming demonstrated for the stencil and PCB that I brought with
> me,
> and watch the machine load the board and find all the fiducials (both PCB
> and
> stencil), and watch the machine go through the print stroke with the
> pressure
> set at zero (no squeegees) so it wouldn't alarm.
>
> Maybe I'm asking stupid questions, but should I consider that a reasonable
>
> demo? I expected to be able to print a board, and then look at the print
> and
> then evaluate it.
>
> But it didn't happen. I'm I being overly cautious? If the printer can find
>
> all the fiducials and then go through the stroke with the pressure set at
> zero and not alarm, could one assume that things are basically sound? It
> did
> appear that things were aligned pretty good from peering at the stencil to
>
> board registration standing outside the printer when the PCB was up
> against
> the stencil...I would have preferred to see where the solder paste
> ended-up.
>
> I guess why I am so worried, is because of my perceived complexity of the
> 288
> print head...it can print in any direction (almost) that you want.
> "Vector-print" as DEK called it, has been discontinued, and is one of the
> basic differences between the "Infinity" and the 288...aside from the
> price
> and footprint.
>
> I don't know squat about the print-head, and don't know what could be not
> seen about the machine's condition by not doing an actual print. What
> could I
> be missing by not actually observing a "Wet Print"? It has been suggested
> that I'm being overly cautious, and that my concerns aren't really
> warranted...as long as the machine found the board and stencil, and went
> through it's print-stroke with no alarms when the pressure was set at
> zero,
> things are cool...
>
> I welcome any and all responses. Sorry for what may seem silly questions.
>
> I'm not expecting anybody to give me a recommendation of whether or not I
> should buy this printer, that's all going to be my decision
> (recommendation)
> ultimately. I'm just trying to learn if my concerns are valid or not...
>
> -Steve Gregory-
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