Does anyone knows WHY it is hapening?

[ProC]

  Those people who work with 32,33 series must been aware of the AOM's problem that are happening very and very often. And those who hadn't have this problems probably are thinking what can we do to protect our mashines from that. So, has anybody knows WHY exactly AOM can die without any obvious reasons? And may be somebody has an oficial Noritsu relise explaining that? Thanks to anyone who can share any ideas on this matter. :-/

[Peter Thornton]

We have had about 4 replacements on our 6 year old 3001. Don't know why they go, but they do.

[NeilT]

been aware of the AOM's problem

This does ring alarm bells as this issue is even more a problem on brand new machines. It is not like the cost is the same a a lamp, the cost are huge, for something that "burns" out and has a short life span..

And as seems to be the case this does like a global problem from Noritsu

[davidlam]

AOM is minor, Laser Unit failure is great pain

[AjantaKVS]

Hello to All,

Yes this is the biggest problem with Laser Machines, All the " little" and "hard" earned money is drained out in the form of AMC. God only should help the photofinishing labs. Cheers to Laser lab! Long live Noritsu!

[Videoteks]

What is the cost of a replacement AOM? Can you install it yourself, or do you have to have a technician install it?

[Peter Thornton]

I think they are about

[davidlam]

To Peter Thronton and all , I can't believe your were charged

[Peter Thornton]

Actually I just found the bill and it was

[Dave S]

The signal processors (silver boxes that are incorrectly called AOMs) control the operation of the AOMs inside the laser unit.

In simple terms the AOM controls the angle of each laser beam by using piezo sound waves to introduce noise into the path of the laser beam, which then diffracts the laser beam away from the paper exposure position.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acousto-optic_modulator for a more in-depth explanation.

The reason they go wrong, that

[davidlam]

To Dave S :  for sharing...,

AOM is located inside the Laser Box huge black box, while the 3 metal box silvery boxes outside the Laser Unit are called the "AOM Signal Processor " or "AOM Driver".   Each "AOM Driver" is supplying power to one of the Red, Green or Blue AOM, so usually there are altogether 3 "AOM Driver" in Noritsu Laser Minilabs equipment, except the QSS-35 series ( 2 AOMs only).  Your internet link is talking about the theory of AOM inside the Laser Unit, not the "AOM Driver".. Anyway your link information is very informative though... More we chat, more we can learn toghether, thanks to MLW Forum.

[davidlam]

To Peter Thronton :

[N] may exaggerate their AOM Driver price, so you stay with their Parts-Covered Service Agreement and renew year by year. As machine gets, they are not offering such kinds of agreement. Like chewing gum, I chew, chew and chew it and finally spit it..  Early AOM Driver aging symptom is you will have ONE colour shift (usually Red, Green or Blue) in the afternoon after you do a daily morning setup in the morning (i.e. morning colour okay, colour change in the afternoon). The colour change will become more or more frequent with AOM driver aging. All AOM Drivers in a machine are the same. Swapping problem or suspicious Blue AOM Driver with the Green one will move the problem to the Green channel.  This is one of the way to tell colour shift problem is the AOM Driver or the Laser Unit itself. This kind of colour change not necessarily creats an error message. Severe problem with AOM Driver will cause error message.  I have been using / I own one QSS-3001 myself for 5 years and I learn from pain.  You can buy a AOM Driver for spare, but make sure from reliable source.  Bad guy can sell U used or unstable AOM Driver and it won't last long..  If you are interested, you can reach me by my email address alien_123@excite.com, email subject = AOM Driver

[Retired]

I guess all components have a design life what that is in this case only Noritsu will know. The issue is more why they are so ridiculously expensive to replace. I would love to find out how much Noritsu actually buys them in for.

Since the implosion of the minilab business .... they gotta make money somehow. Guess what folks ..... we it!. :X I can also guarantee you that they have engineered "design failure" parts too.  >

Erm... anyone still buying blue foam rollers for turn guide #2?  CHACHING!!!! LOL Pst used the black ones from turn guide 3, 4, 5 or 6..... They dont go bad.... ever!

[s layne]

It is the same Old Noritsu that I have been talking about for 6 years.  They could care less about the cost to the labs.  All they care about is the bottom line.  One day maybe everyone will wake up and demand something different from Noritsu.  Until that time comes, expect to continue to shell out mega bucks for equipment that will always have something that fails very rapidly and quite possibly frequently after purchase.

[NeilT]

Hello peeps.. Just to bring this thread back to topic I will start a new thread re Noritsu