Well, This was great! For those who like the Mr. Bean show, even more! Steve, you are wonderful! Gaby "Stephen R. Gregory" wrote: > Hi ya'll... > > I've not posted in a while because I've been kinda' busy...bringing in a new > (used) wave solder machine. To put things eloquently, it's been > interesting...I think my experiences might be some interesting reading. > > As some of you may remember, I had a Hollis Future SMT-1 (that was about > 12-years old and had some VERY questionable care in the past) and I was > replacing it with a Trieber machine with a newer vintage of only 5-years. The > Trieber had one more topside preheater than the Hollis had (for a total of > 5-preheaters, 3-bottom, 2-top), and we also decided to upgrade it with a > spray-fluxer (from Innovative Concepts http://www.innovconcepts.com/). One > other plus was that the Trieber had a 20-inch wide conveyer, and the Hollis > was a 16-inch...wider is better (GRIN). > > One minor problem that I discovered in the beginning (me being so new here, > and of course only after the deal was made), was that the largest opening > into the building was just 6-feet wide, the Trieber is 7.5-feet wide. (Duhh > Steve you dipstick, what were you thinking!) What I had assumed (I know about > the saying about assuming things, so I don't need to be reminded), that there > would be a door big enough to bring equipment in like everyplace else I've > worked at...didn't even bother to check if the door width would be a problem > (but remember I'm in Oklahoma)...silly me. > > Anyhoo, when I realized there was indeed a problem, I promptly shat my pants > (that is the past tense of sh*t ain't it?)...what to do? I surmised while > filling my drawers... > > So I called Ed Popielarski (who I bought the Trieber from, and ya'll know him > as one of us Technetters) and told him of my brain fart (hoping that he would > say; "Oh well, no problem Steve, we'll just look for a machine for you > that'll fit through the door..." But no, he said; "There is a way Steve..." > > I said; "Huh?" He said that we could take the hoods, conveyer, and solder-pot > off the machine, tilt it on it's side, get through the door, right it, and > put it back together... > > When I picked my jaw back up off the floor, I said; "Huh?" > > He said; "Yeah, we can do it!" He seemed so confident, I said; "Uhhh, > okay...if you say so..." So we continued on... > > The machine arrived here in Tulsa the Monday before the Thanksgiving holiday, > and Ed wouldn't be able to come out until the following Monday after the > holiday, (I surely wasn't about to try and do something like this by myself), > Ed needed to come out to show me how to "thread the needle"... > > So we unloaded the machine into the parking lot, covered it with a tarp to > wait on Ed, and had tornado warnings that night...talk about karma... > > The machine survived all the rain and wind, and Ed showed-up on the Monday as > promised. In the meantime, I started emptying the pot on the Hollis because > part of the deal was that the Hollis was being traded-in. I started ladling > the solder out of the pot, and then the pot heaters died...friggen' GREAT! I > picked-up Ed at his hotel and greeted him with the good news that the pot > heaters died in the Hollis, and now we needed to torch the pot...but he still > wasn't too discouraged. Let me say this without getting into much detail, if > someone in blue overalls from Oklahoma says they'll torch a solder-pot for > you, decline the offer...Ed knows what I'm talking about. > > Anyways, me and Ed dissassembled the machine down to parade-rest, tilted the > bloody thing on it's side (with the help of some really good fork-lift > drivers), got it into the building, put it back together and got it running. > > One very interesting point was when we put the chip-nozzle into the pot. You > see, during the tornado warning night, even though I had the machine covered, > there was a bunch of water that got into the pot. We thought about it and > even put both nozzels on top of rods holding it just above the top of the pot > so that the heat from the pot while were charging it with solder would > convect up and evaporate any water that might have gotten inside the nozzel > passages, we didn't evaporate things enough apparently. We had a nice "Old > Faithful" jet of 500-degree solder squirt out of the top of the nozzel and > spray the ceiling when the molten solder contacted a pocket of water inside > the nozzel that didn't quite evaporate...for old farts like me and Ed, we > were pretty quick on our feet then...we were lucky (really) that neither one > of us were burnt. Water and molten solder don't mix... > > Anyhoo, we did it! Ed knows his stuff! I would have never thought it was > possible, but it happened! > > The machine runs great! Ed even showed me how to make the machine sound like > a "Harley"...hehehe. Solder pumps are air powered, and if you take the > mufflers off, set certain pump rpms (on both the chip and laminar pumps), get > the right harmonics, it sounds like a Harley idling...too cool! The spray > fluxer on it works great too...less than 10K...check it out. > > But it HAS been a LONG week! > > -Steve Gregory- > > ############################################################## > TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c > ############################################################## > To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in > the body: > To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> > To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET > ############################################################## > Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional > information. > If you need assistance - contact Gayatri Sardeshpande at [log in to unmask] or > 847-509-9700 ext.5365 > ############################################################## ############################################################## TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ############################################################## To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET ############################################################## Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information. 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