nivek
As Above So Below
I've been troubleshooting a fully automatic powder coat system, two people alone can operate this huge equipment that is larger than my house, well it has 8 large IR ovens and one has failed and the spray booth is failing to coat the product properly...I have never operated nor been exposed to powder coating technology nor this particular equipment before, although many of the components I do know all about...Half of the displays, the HMI button labeling and so forth are written in German, fortunately the book for this equipment is written in English, because basically I was given that book and told what its not doing and then given the keys, so to speak, to figure out what's wrong with it and get it repaired...
I've spent three days on it now, the first day I read all 500 pages of the book including documentation I downloaded from the internet...The second day I arrived at work early and fired up the entire system on my own and began troubleshooting the oven issue because they were able to spray the powder on the product and still use the other ovens, so production continued whilst I investigated...At the end of the second day the atomizing air for the spray booth was failing and shutting down that part of the system so I had to stop investigating the oven and work on this new problem...No one in the company knows or understands the technical side of this equipment, there are only a handful of operators, they do not know how to repair it if something happens, hardly any PMs have been done unless something broke, the only guy previously in the company that knew anything about this equipment left the company last year...So on the third day, today, I came in at 4 am and fired up the system and combed through the entire spraying system, had my hands on every component, no matter how insignificant...I discovered a compressed air regulator, one of two that feed the main pneumatic controllers had failed, the controllers weren't getting enough air...I'll get the regulator replaced in the morning and move back to focus on what's wrong with IR oven number 6...
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I've spent three days on it now, the first day I read all 500 pages of the book including documentation I downloaded from the internet...The second day I arrived at work early and fired up the entire system on my own and began troubleshooting the oven issue because they were able to spray the powder on the product and still use the other ovens, so production continued whilst I investigated...At the end of the second day the atomizing air for the spray booth was failing and shutting down that part of the system so I had to stop investigating the oven and work on this new problem...No one in the company knows or understands the technical side of this equipment, there are only a handful of operators, they do not know how to repair it if something happens, hardly any PMs have been done unless something broke, the only guy previously in the company that knew anything about this equipment left the company last year...So on the third day, today, I came in at 4 am and fired up the system and combed through the entire spraying system, had my hands on every component, no matter how insignificant...I discovered a compressed air regulator, one of two that feed the main pneumatic controllers had failed, the controllers weren't getting enough air...I'll get the regulator replaced in the morning and move back to focus on what's wrong with IR oven number 6...
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