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-