This week we received an urgent call from a manufacturing client of ours. One of their Zeiss CMM machines was down. Unfortunately the machine is out of support and the Original Manufacturer suggested replacing the control/communication system. The fix would have meant multiple weeks of downtime, and a hefty $16,000 repair.
We stopped by to take a look at the machine, as our client thought it might be something we could help with. Sure enough, on closer inspection, the control board had regular PC components. The components were at least 25 years old and no longer obtainable.
Fortunately, we have seen this type of issue in the past.
Years ago there was an influx of broken computers. The computer seemed to run fine, until it was shut down. When the user attempted to power the computer up, it would blink once but not turn on. Often times, attempting to turn the computer on 2 or 3 times would result in a successful boot. Over time the problem would become worse until the computer would not turn on any more.
Bad Capacitors!
While we do not perform many board-level repairs, this was a familiar problem to us. Fortunately capacitors are large (in component terms, that is) and not too difficult to replace.
We were able to repair and return the machine to service in 2 days.
