We get lots of calls for field service for Rexroth electric industrial drives. Some of our callers are large companies with the budget to get their troubleshooting and repairs done properly, and those are happy calls all the way around. We’re happy to help, they’re happy to get their problem solved. Everybody’s happy.
I got another kind of call on Saturday. Yes, we take calls on Saturday. This was not a call from a regular customer and it was not a call from a new customer. It was a call from someone who told us right up front that they had no funds budgeted (well, they said they didn’t have any money, but it comes to the same thing). They were spending their Saturday trying to fix problems with their system, and thought they might as well give us the chance to join in the fun.
They had pulled used parts out of a few different units, none of which was working, and they were swapping bits and pieces around in hopes of getting their system working again.
With the right attitude, this can be a fun way to spend your weekend. Taking stuff apart, putting it back together, hoping it would work… Harmless fun.
But they didn’t really need to invite us.
Oh, we answered their questions, of course, and gave them troubleshooting advice. We probably extended their weekend pleasure by several hours.
By the time they called back asking us to check serial numbers for them, we had to bow out. Rexroth doesn’t provide support for third party repair shops. This wasn’t exactly a repair show, more of an amateur show in the barn, but we still couldn’t provide the support their were hoping for.
Here’s where the metaphor breaks down. You can put on a show in the barn or work on riffs with your garage band, and nobody gets hurt. If you try to do a little DIY with industrial servo drives, however, people are very likely to get hurt.
We don’t work on machines that have been through third party repairs, or which have had bits and pieces swapped out in a spirit of cheerful experimentation, because these machines are unsafe. They can behave in unpredictable ways, putting their operators in danger.
Don’t take the chance. Call us first.