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Edge 2 Diagnosis and Repair

SqueeGee

New Member
We have an Edge 2 that the cooling fan started acting a little weird on. I posted about it here:

http://signs101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=66716&highlight=edge

Ultimately, I decided it was a non issue. Which seemed to be right until it broke. I've resolved to clear out some clutter in the shop and thus I need to figure out what to do with this machine.

The day it stopped working completely, it was mid job and it suddenly stopped pulling the vinyl through. We turned it off and back on at which time something made a popping sound and a small puff of smoke came out. An electrician once told me that once you let the magic smoke out of something, it usually never works again. Upon further inspection, there are several battery shaped cylinders and one them appears to have slightly split open. I'll post a pic in a second.

I've got an Edge 1 as a backup that we've been using ever since so the issue isn't critical but I'd like to pick a path and move forward. The way I see it, I've got a few options:

1) Sell it AS IS on ebay/Signs 101/etc.
2) Ship it to Gerber and have them tell me what's wrong and then decide how to proceed. It looks like they charge an $80 evaluation fee and it would probably cost another $200-300 to have it shipped up and back. (I've got the original boxes.)
3) Since I'm pretty darn sure the print head is fine, I could probably find an Edge 2 for cheap that has a bad head, swap my good print head into that machine, be back in action with a complete Edge 2 and then sell the other mess for parts.
4) Some genius Signs101 member could tell me how to fix this thing with some aluminum foil and bubble gum.

Any suggestions?
 
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SqueeGee

New Member
When I took the pics, I went ahead and turned the Edge on. It powers up fine and looks normal but it does give off a burning smell. The first photo is to give a frame of reference and the second photo shows the cylinder(middle one) that has slightly popped open.
 

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Browner

New Member
Keep it for parts? I'm pretty sure most of the hardware is interchangeable between the two. Knowing that the power supply alone is ~ $1000 from Gerber, it might be worth holding onto.
 

Fred Weiss

Merchant Member
Does it have to come from Gerber? Can I have it replaced locally?(it appears to soldered into place)

Any electronics repair can replace the capacitor with a new one. The question then will be ... was anything else damaged and did something else wrong cause the capacitor to fail? As things stand, you have very little to lose by seeing if simply replacing the capacitor will result in a complete repair.
 

SqueeGee

New Member
Any electronics repair can replace the capacitor with a new one. The question then will be ... was anything else damaged and did something else wrong cause the capacitor to fail?

Right. No use changing the flat tire if the nails are still in the driveway.

Are there any retired Gerber technicians that now work on Edges?
 
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