[Jewelry making - Article 00267] - Re: [Orchid] Plating machine fuses blowing daily

[Peter W . Rowe]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========

>        I have a plater machine that is about 10 years old and has had
>     the same 5amp fuse in it since I got it. In the last 2 weeks I have
>     gone thru 5 fuses. They just pop as I electrocleaning. Any ideas?
>     should I just use a bigger fuse?

    bigger, no.  Not a good idea.  The variable transformer (variac)
    that most likely controls the voltage could easily blow if you feed
    it too much current. The little wiper arms on those things are the
    weak point, and that's often the most costly componant in these power
    supplies.. 

    But I'd wonder whether the problem might be the type of fuse.  It
    may have originally had a slow blow type fuse in it that could
    withstand a brief spike. If you replaced it with fast blowing types,
    your fuses would not last long, even when the amperage rating is the
    same. 

    And then there's the quick fix suggestion to just not turn the
    voltage up so high when electrocleaning...  That process works just
    fine at just about any setting. The speed of cleaning is the main
    thing that changes with lower settings. So long as you're getting
    some good bubbling at all, you're cleaning the work. 

Peter

____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________