Smoked our FB500 today...

[Desert_Signs]

No problems on Friday. Woke it up today to start running. Began running it's maintenance cycle and we started smelling something burning. Started running around the shop trying to figure out where the smell was coming from. Looked under the machine and there was smoke belching out of the service end station. OH S&$T! Shut it down and unplugged it.

Called our supplier and they're on it. Looks like the vacuum, that cleans the ink off the heads when they purge, fried.

 

[particleman]

Don't be shocked when you see what the vacuum actually is. It is a small shopvac brand vac like you can buy in the hardware store. We had one go bad also. Not so dramatic, but it just stopped working.

 

[SignManiac]

No problems on Friday. Woke it up today to start running. Began running it's maintenance cycle and we started smelling something burning. Started running around the shop trying to figure out where the smell was coming from. Looked under the machine and there was smoke belching out of the service end station. OH S&$T! Shut it down and unplugged it.

Called our supplier and they're on it. Looks like the vacuum, that cleans the ink off the heads when they purge, fried.

Same thing happened on our FB950 a year ago. Didn't do any major damage but it sure gets your attention.

 

[Desert_Signs]

Don't be shocked when you see what the vacuum actually is. It is a small shopvac brand vac like you can buy in the hardware store. We had one go bad also. Not so dramatic, but it just stopped working.

I so badly want to open the box to look inside, but it's all sealed up. Since it's a warranty issue, I guess I'll just wait until they show up tomorrow to replace it.

 

[ProWraps]

did you get high?

 

[Desert_Signs]

did you get high?

I got a headache, does that count? The smoke was pretty nasty.

They didn't make it out today, had to drop-ship the part from HP. Supposed to be coming tomorrow morning.

 

[HulkSmash]

did you get high?

typical.

 

[cdiesel]

When they installed ours, the tech literally said it's a shop-vac. Still sucks being down though..

Who services your machine?

 

[Desert_Signs]

California Media Services

They've been really good to us. I called them Monday afternoon and told them what was going on. They'll be here tomorrow from California, driving out. Offered to run any jobs we had on one of their demo machines and bring it with them, if it would help - or find us someone local who could pick up the slack. Fortunately there was only one job that HAD to be flatbed, and the customer is fine with waiting a day, as they didn't expect it until Wednesday anyway. The rest we printed and laid on substrate or went old school and laid cut vinyl.

They've been servicing our machines for 2 years. Great guys, IMO.

 

[cdiesel]

Cool, always looking for a backup vendor. I wish there were some more options locally...

 

[phototec]

I so badly want to open the box to look inside, but it's all sealed up. Since it's a warranty issue, I guess I'll just wait until they show up tomorrow to replace it.

If it was OUT of warranty, I would have been in that box in just minutes, and according to others on here, if it was just a shop vac, I would get one locally and have it back in the box in a hour or so, and not have to wait days for theses tech guys to show up at $150 an hour.

What will there trip charge be driving all the way from Fullerton, California when your warranty period is over?

 

[OutputTech]

Blown shop vac, it happen to our FB700 in the first 3 weeks.

No problems on Friday. Woke it up today to start running. Began running it's maintenance cycle and we started smelling something burning. Started running around the shop trying to figure out where the smell was coming from. Looked under the machine and there was smoke belching out of the service end station. OH S&$T! Shut it down and unplugged it.

Called our supplier and they're on it. Looks like the vacuum, that cleans the ink off the heads when they purge, fried.

 

[CheapVehicleWrap]

As least you didn't douse the entire room with a fire extinguisher. Just let er burn.

 

[artbot]

if out of warranty and it's just ported to a hose line, upgrade to a festool dust collector. heard one run yesterday at woodcraft, i was like "is this thing on?" ...with a ton of pull too.

 

[Desert_Signs]

If it was OUT of warranty, I would have been in that box in just minutes, and according to others on here, if it was just a shop vac, I would get one locally and have it back in the box in a hour or so, and not have to wait days for theses tech guys to show up at $150 an hour.

What will there trip charge be driving all the way from Fullerton, California when your warranty period is over?

If, and when, that happens - we'll deal with it. For the most part, there's not much on these machines that I can't fix. It's just nuts and bolts. I spent a year nursing our FB910 along. I pretty much took everything apart on it and put it back together more than once. They're just machines, built by people. If a person can build it, I can fix it.

 

[cdiesel]

Raged: Are you coming to Wrap & Rap next weekend?

 

[Desert_Signs]

Raged: Are you coming to Wrap & Rap next weekend?

I am planning on it! We finished our Spring Training project and have a week "break" (LOL) before our next big one, so signs point to yes!

 

[supercheapsigns]

We just burned out our third shop vac in our FB700. Tech says its "safe" to run without it... been having to manually clean the heads a lot more though. Waiting for it to get replaced.

 

[Image360Tucker]

Has anyone used a different shop vac for the Fb700/500/550? The cost for this unit is around $480. If so, how did you convert the voltage from 240 to 110?

 

[greysquirrel]

Did you buy an HP parts contract and your tech bills you labor per incident? If so, have them ship the part in and save the labor...its 6 screws then literals remove/replace a shop vac.