Food Parcel from SamDong

Some nice stuff from Tennessee

A big thank you to the good people at Sam Dong (particularly Martha).  We recently help them with some Siemens parts and in return they went to the trouble of sending us a collection of regional delights from Tennessee.

So far our personal favourite  has been the Moon Pie, which taste like Wagon Wheels without Jam. We are trying one treat per day! So today we move onto the Goo Goo Peanut Butter biscuits and the home made Corn Relish - made by Kristie. Unfortunately David managed to break the lid on the Black Berry Jam. 

Big thanks to Debbie, Steve, Kristie, Martha, Martha's mum and the rest of the team at Sam Dong. 

Moon Pies

John Joe eating his moon pie

 

Direct-Industrial save Sting Concert

As one of the UK’s leading venues for live music, The Sage Gateshead is accustomed to playing host to some of the biggest names in world music and they don’t get much bigger than Sting. The Tyneside born musician was back in his home town to perform the last show in his sell out Symphonicity European tour. The Symphonicity tour sees Sting performing his most celebrated songs with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.


With so many musicians and so much equipment involved in the Symphonicity tour even the smallest problems can become magnified. All was going well until a potential disaster occurred only 24 hours before the show - the goods lift broke down. Without a working goods lift, Sting and his orchestral backing band would be unable to transport their musical equipment on to the stage. The prospect of disappointing thousands of Sting fans was too much to take.

 Before you could say De Do Do Do De Da Da Da, the facilities manager contacted lift service provider Orona to arrange an engineer visit. Upon arriving at the site the Orona engineer quickly traced the problem back to a ThyssenKrupp MFL2040 drive. Due to the weekend and close proximity of the show, sourcing a replacement was not a viable option. The Orona engineer therefore took decisive action and contacted drive repair specialist Direct-Industrial.com to arrange an urgent repair. The drive was sent on a same day delivery from the North East to Direct-Industrial’s automation repair facility in Blackburn, Lancashire.


Listening to the greatest hits of Sting and the Police, Direct-Industrial engineers (see photo) worked through the night to repair and service the faulty drive. After visually inspecting the drive, the engineers removed each card and powered them individually. This enabled them to narrow down the problem to the power board. It was discovered that a fault on the firing stage was pulling down the supply rails, thereby causing the drive to malfunction.



Utilizing the latest techniques in analogue signature analysis, the problem was reduced to a single firing stage, after which the use of a dedicated short locating tool directed the engineer to the root cause – a short circuit capacitor. Once the fault had been cured, Direct Industrial engineers performed a full preventive maintenance service on the drive replacing serviceable parts such as capacitors, fans and relays. A large proportion of drive problems result from component failure through old age - for example capacitors can leak corrosive acid on the internal PCBs. A full service from Direct-Industrial.com replaces these parts and reduces the chance of drive failure and expensive downtime.


By early Saturday morning the drive was on load test after being been completely serviced and repaired and was ready to be returned to the North East complete with a 12 month warranty. The repaired AC drive was then returned to the North East on a same day service and fitted by the Orona engineer just hours before the show. Needless to say The Sage Gateshead was walking on the moon with delight at the professional and rapid response from Orona and Direct-Industrial.com.

Direct Industrial Extend Free Collection & Delivery Promotion

Internet Automation Distributor, Direct-Industrial.com is now offering free collection and delivery to UK customers on automation spares and repairs until the 1st of January 2011. European customers do not need to feel left out as Direct-Industrial are also offering free delivery on all orders over £100 GBP to mainland Europe.


With access to over 30,000 lines of obsolete automation stock, including a large inventory of Siemens Simatic S5, and over 30 years repair experience Direct-Industrial is committed to providing an affordable and responsive automation repair service as well as substantial savings on new & refurbished automation spare parts. Customers can also take peace of mind that all parts repaired or sold by Direct-Industrial.com come with a full 12 month warranty.


Commenting on the promotion, David Lenehan, Sales and  Marketing Manager said: “Our aim is always to make life simpler for our customers and our free collection service fits into this core philosophy. Customers can have their repairs picked up for free, evaluated for free and quoted for free within 48 hours. What’s more, we will return the item free of charge  if the customer decides not to proceed with the repair. Who says you don’t get anything for free these days?”


To take advantage of this unique promotion, please visit Direct-Industrial.com or call +44 (0)1254 673747.

Control Techniques cease production of Digitax

Original product shots of the Digitax Drive

Way back in 1989, Control Techniques started manufacturing the revolutionary Digitax AC servo drive. These high performance servo drives would eventually become line critical items for countless manufactures across the globe. Today many companies still depend on Digitax to keep production flowing, particularly in the CNC machine tool industry. 


Unfortunately it will soon be time to say goodbye, as Control Techniques will soon stop production of the Digitax servo drives. 


Not too surprisingly, many Digitax users are worried about the long term support for this product and have contacted Direct-Industrial.com for advice. 


As an official Control Techniques distributor, Direct-Industrial.com are able to offer a wide range of solutions for Digitax Users, these options include:

• Repair of your Digitax Drive
• New and Refurbished Digitax Drives 
• Practical advice on upgrading to the latest generation platform

New and Refurbished Digitax Drives


Direct-Industrial.com have limited stock of new and refurbished DigitAx drives available to purchase today. We also have access to the last production batch of DigitAx drives. All the refurbished stock come with 12 months warranty and have been fully tested by our technicians.  If the digitax is critical to your production process this might be your last chance to order a spare unit.


Please contact us for a free quote and to reserve your DigitAx drive. 




Practical advice on upgrading to the latest generation platform


There is no direct replacement for DigitAx but we recommended the Control Techniques Undrive SP, combined with SM resolver module. These state of the art digital drives offer many more internal features (specifically a built in PLC capacity) and can be setup using your laptop .... or  Ipad if you feel flush. 


The table below shows which Unidrive SP to use as the replacement for your Digitax.

No fuss Digitax Repair:


Should you require a faulty Digitax drive to be repaired help is at hand from our certified repair and service centre. Minimising the impact on your plant is our main concern. We have been repairing industrial automation parts for over 30 years and provide a prompt, professional guaranteed repair service. 


Unlike many of our competitors we go the extra distance and perform a full service on your Control Techniques drive. During the service we replace all serviceable parts, reflow cracked solder joints and repair any fault discovered.


Using Direct-Industrial.com is good for your business due to the following reasons:

• All repairs carry a 12 month warranty
• Fixed Priced Repair – No unwanted surprises
• Fast Turnaround Times
• Full Preventive Maintenance Service – We replace all serviceable components.
• All repaired parts are cleaned and returned to like new or almost new condition
• No Fix No Fee Policy
• High Quality Replacement Parts
• Free No Obligation Quote

Replacing the Control Techniques Lynx SM DC Controller

Control Techniques recently ceased production of their Puma range of DC Drives.  The good news is that replacing these DC Drives is relatively easy and inexpensive thanks to the range of Sprint DC drives available directly from Direct-Industrial.com.

The Puma SM DC controller can be replaced for as little as £79 with the Sprint 340. The 340 offer significant space saving with its ultra compact DIN rail mounting design. The replacement sprint dc drive is simple, reliable and compant. Controlling the DC drive is easy with adjustable parameters including min and max motor speed, armature current, up ramp and IR compensation.

For more information please drop us an email

An update from Direct-Industrial.com

It has been a little while since we lasted blogged. It has been extremely busy down at Direct-Industrial.comindustrial automation equipment. 

The newsletter also has information on our forthcoming move and the jet engine starter rig we designed (which was also featured in last months edition of drives and controls magazine).  It you would like to receive a copy of our newsletter please drop us an email.

Direct-Industrial Appear In Drives and Controls Magazine

Check out this month's edition of Drives and Controls Magazine to find out how Direct-Industrial designed and built a Jet Engine Test Rig for a leading Aerospace company.