Fletchermoorland's Blog

Fake bearings can be costly

fletchermoorland — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 10:52:30 +0000

Anyone involved in industrial maintenance should watch this short video about counterfit bearings

What makes a quality electronic repair ?

fletchermoorland — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 08:00:27 +0000

Well first of all no company is going to say they do a poor quality repair. So what does a ‘quality’ repair mean?

We hear many companies talk about repairs to ISO9001 but that is a quality management system not a judge of repair and rework quality. All our electronics and servo engineers are trained and certified to IPC7711/21 repair and rework quality standards. This ensures all our repair and rework is carried out to a recognised quality standard. Why risk sending repairs to companies who do not follow a repair standard? Your PCB’s are expensive and critical to your operation and productivity, yet they can so easily become damaged beyond a repair by an inadequately trained repair engineer. Take a look at the example below -

Poor soldering from a 3rd party

We received an inverter drive from a customer who was experiencing a repeat intermittent failure on an exhaust fan. The inverter had been to a competitor on numerous occasions only to fail in service. We were able to find the cause of the intermittent operation. An 8 pin SMD device had been replaced which had not been soldered properly causing the drive to fail.

Soldering techniques and equipment for through-hole and SMD devices differ. The success or failure of a repair can depend on the competence of the repair engineer. A repair company needs to have the right equipment and understanding of different techniques. After all, you wouldn’t use the same soldering iron to solder this component as you would to remove a power device from a heavy solder plane. (ok, it’s evident some companies do!)

In further posts we will discuss the diagnosis of faults on electronic equipment and PCB’s but this post will be kept to rework and repair.

Whenever we have a PCB or any electronic item for repair, we make sure that as part of the repair process we carry out a full overhaul/service. It gives us piece of mind that the repair will last, in most cases longer than an OEM repair and in some cases longer than a new unit. (our philosophy is that repairs are to be as-good-as-if-not-better-than-new) We do this by identifying components that are aged, becoming weak and are nearing the end of their operational life, then replacing them with equivalent or better components.

When we carry out a repair we will also carry out the following steps to extend the life of the electronic equipment. (very much like an oil and filter change, tyre pressure check and water level check when servicing a car)

Replace all electrolytic capacitors with low ESR 105 Degree C types (these become weak over time)
Replace all opto-isolators (performance can be degraded with age)
Replace all relays (performance can be degraded with age)
Replace all potentiometers (dirty wipers can cause intermittent operation)
Replace any heat damaged or physically damaged components (regardless of their electrical condition)
Service all connectors and pins (these can become loose or tarnished)
Reflow solder joints (these can become dry and resistive)
Replace identified hard fault components (we will discuss this in a later post)
Use the right technique, equipment and process to carry out the above in accordance with IPC7711/21

To help us maintain our rework quality levels we have invested in the latest ERSA soldering stations, LCD microscope inspection and stereo vision inspection devices.

Each and every repair we complete is to be of the highest quality standard, we believe you need to know repair and rework standards to achieve this.

Does your current electronic repair company work to known repair and rework standards?

If not, come and talk to us and enjoy longer lasting, more reliable repairs.

Call 01782 411021 to find out more.

The latest soldering rework stations

LCD 450x zoom inspection microscope

Servo Motor Myths and Mysteries………..explained

fletchermoorland — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 11:41:19 +0000

Have you ever felt servo motor repairs are surrounded in myths and mysteries ?

Well if you have or you just want to know more about what can & can’t or should & shouldn’t be done then why not come down to our servo motor repair workshops and talk directly to the engineers?

We have been involved in servo motor repairs for over 25 years. In that time we have heard many things said about the servo motor repair process that are, quite frankly, untrue and misleading. If you are an existing or potential customer reading this we want you to be fully informed of our process and engineering best practice, so you can make your own decision of whom to choose. Don’t let untruths influence your decision.

We feel a visit to our works benefits all parties as engineers can speak to engineers. One recent customer came to visit us as he was experiencing problems with a repair company. We showed him how an assessment is carried out, what we had found with a supposedly good motor, explained to him about how we align the resolver for this type and how we carry out a load test to prove the repair. Our approach must have pleased him as we are now seeing his work.

Call our MD Matt Fletcher directly on 07770 551389 if you want to visit our servo workshop. He’ll even make the tea for you!

Breakthrough in support for Dematic CDU’s

fletchermoorland — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:30:00 +0000

Fletcher Moorland have been supporting Dematic CDU repairs for many years. When an OEM withdrew a critical component from production, our ability to support CDU repairs was in jeopardy.

In essence the CDU unit is a 5Hp linear motor mounted onto a chassis which contains a low profile drive and a CPU control PCB. It was the low profile drive (driveblok) manufactured by Parker Automation that was withdrawn from production. We contacted many companies across the globe for this part but non were available.

The driveblok was not just a 5Hp drive, it had a low profile design to fit into the chassis, more importantly the automated sorter system it drives uses the Parker software to control the entire sorter. It uses analogue sampling of speed, voltage, power and current and sends this information to the sorter through the onboard control PCB. This meant we could not just fit an ‘off the shelf’ drive.

The challenge to continue supporting CDU repairs was put to our ‘obsolescence engineering’ department. Their aim was to retrofit a drive and control stage to the CDU so it had the same fit, form and function as the original.

Their project plan was as follows

Source a drive unit that would fit in the confined space of the CDU chassis
Reverse engineer the CPU control on the CDU
Develop a software conversion PCB to take the original commissioning and operation software and convert this to the new drive software
Develop a ‘real time’ analogue data sampling PCB to sample the speed, current, power and voltage of the CDU
Build prototype PCB’s
Connect the prototypes to a CDU for acceptance testing
Write software code to control the new design

Once the considerable R&D engineering project had been completed, a new PCB layout was drawn up and we had bare PCB’s manufactured ready for population at our electronics workshop.

The first retrofit unit has just passed all testing and the project has been signed off for release to our customers.

We are now back in a position to continue supporting CDU repairs for years to come.

The original CDU control with obsolete driveblok

Newly designed retrofit control

Helping the MOD to deliver

fletchermoorland — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 07:01:54 +0000

Helping the MOD to deliver

Managing obsolescence is increasingly becoming a key business requirement requiring organizational buy in and cross functional support which
can often include the end user or customer. It is a problem we encounter daily at Fletcher Moorland, and has become a key issue within the industry. One of our many loyal and high profile customers based on the MOD site in Telford was encountering such issues with obsolescence. A number of Dexion R1002 boards were failing on a consistent basis with communication issues. Despite trying various solutions, including repairs, the items were coming to the end of their functional lives. Compounding the issue, was the fact that there was no budget in place to facilitate the replacement of the entire system- in fact the end
user had been told that the system presently in place would have to last for a further 10 years!

Knowing of our longstanding reputation in the electronic repair and support industry our client turned to us. Our expert R&D department were
able to take the board, reverse engineer, map, manufacture and develop leading edge testing procedures to reproduce a large quantity of the boards. Not only
that, but we were able to make key changes to problems inherent in the original designs of the board, with the function of extending the life of said units. All
this, at a fraction of the cost the customer had anticipated.

Fletcher Moorland Ltd provides complete solutions for the support and maintenance of high value electronic Printed Circuit Boards (PCB’s) and
modules. Whether testing, repairing, solving obsolescence issues or re-manufacturing obsolete circuits, a complete maintenance capability is
available to help customers keep electronic circuits working with extended life.

Please contact our Sales team on 01782 411021 for further information on how we can support you on your critical equipment.

(Post by Scott Williams)

Keeping the rides running

fletchermoorland — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 10:23:31 +0000

Failures at theme parks not only cause headaches for maintenance engineers, they can also spoil the customer experience too. One of our new customers came to us with a problem. His submersible motor gearboxes were failing soon after a third-party repair had been carried out. This was our first real opportunity to show we try to prevent failures and improve the reliability of repaired equipment.

Investigation into the failed motor gearbox showed ingress of water into the terminal box. Not only was the cable gland unsuitable, the terminal box lid was distorted when seen on a surface table.

Our repair proposal was to fit a suitable IP68 cable gland, machine the terminal box and lid mating faces and to encapsulate the terminal box. And of course we refurbished the motor and gearbox.

Encapsulated terminal block

This modified motor-gearbox was put back into service and has been working without failure for almost a year now (more than 4 times as long as previous repairs)

After proving our repair we have won orders to modify further units.

(Article by Andy Mansell)

Fletcher Moorland eBay Spares Shop

fletchermoorland — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 13:22:52 +0000

On the 10th of November we launched our new Fletcher Moorland Limited spares shop on eBay.

Located at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Fletcher-Moorland-Limited, this shop has a rapidly growing number of items for sale covering a wide range of industrial electronic and electro-mechanical parts.

If you require spare boards from major manufacturers for PLC racks, replacement servo drives and motors, replacement HMI panels or any other possibly hard to find industrial electronic items, then take a look there anytime. You will find many items there at competitive prices.

Each item has a reference number that directly relates to a stores location here at Fletcher Moorland. That means we can ship the item out to you quickly.

We are rapidly building our shop inventory, so make the Fletcher Moorland eBay Shop one of your browser favourites and keep coming back to see what we have. We may just have just the item you need to get your machine working again or keep as a spare to reduce your downtime.

Fletcher Moorland is now an IEC Ex Certified Service Facility

fletchermoorland — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 12:16:00 +0000

Fletcher Moorlands’ Electro-Mechanical workshop had been audited and certified by Sira Certification Ltd to become an IEC Ex Certified Facility to standard IEC 60079-19(2006).

The IEC Ex scheme provided Ex equipment users,regulators and the community with the confidence that Ex safety is maintained when repaired in accordance with IEC60079-19(2006).

For more details, see our webpage article by clicking here.

Phone Lines Restored

fletchermoorland — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 10:02:59 +0000

Our phone lines (that were damaged due to a fire at a premises near to us) are all fully restored.

Please contact us on our normal numbers for site calls, emergency repairs, repair enquiries and any other requirements.

Overhaul of HVAC fan motors on site

fletchermoorland — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:04:00 +0000

We recently completed the overhaul of four large HVAC (Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning) fans that were fitted inside one of our customers buildings. The overhaul was to include a full rewind of each motor and modifications to be made that the customer specified. This work had to be done over four successive weekends, removing them overnight on a Friday night and having them installed and working ready for the customers staff returning on a Monday morning.

The first stage of any large scale project such as this is to carry out a site assessment. Our engineering and sales team visited the customers site to investigate the location of the fans, take photographs, and assess what challenges needed to be overcome to perform the work within the customers timescale.

These fans were 7 feet of the ground with about 1 foot clearance above. Three of the fans would have to be carried down 3 flights of stairs to be removed from the building, the other fan would require narrow section scaffold and lifting clamps to take it down. Large sections of duct would have to be removed before the fans could be removed.

Our electro-mechanical engineering team studied the problems, devised an action plan in co-operation with the customer and drafted the relevant safe methods of working and method statement documentation. This with a quotation for the work to be carried out was sent to the customer and accepted.

The first fan was removed for overhaul and rewinding, all the work taking place over the weekend period.

The work went well and over the weekend the fan motor was rewound, overhauled, fitted with new SKF bearings and tested. It was re-installed on site ready for the start of work on the Monday morning.

Over the next three weekends the other three fan motors were removed, rewound, overhauled and replaced, all within the required timescales.

If you have a large project like this, contact Fletcher Moorland. We have the expertise and experience to carry it out on your site to the timescales you require, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.