Finding An Independent Minilab Repair Technician

[kc_dougherty]

I manage a small camera store with a one-hour lab in northern NJ with

older Fuji machines (FP550B and a PP1040), about 20 miles from NYC.

Does anyone know of, or how I can find, an independent repair

technician? Rather than having to place a service call with Fuji, I'm

hoping to get more bang for my boss's buck by checking out other

avenues.

 

Some work I can do myself but there are things (like circulation

pumps) that I know are beyond my abilities. I found some listed on

www.rkequipment.com and www.minilabworld.net and made some phone

calls (all to answering machines although one number had no machine).

BEF Corporation has a man who possibly has that information but I

have to call him back tomorrow.

 

PMA (the Photo Marketing Association) doesn't maintain such a list

but the woman I spoke to took my name and number just in case she

finds some information I could use.

 

There is Independent Photo Tech Service in the mid-west

(www.phototechservice.com) but they are only in the mid-west. I left

a message on their machine asking if they knew of a similar service

in the NY metro area. One of their technicians called me back and he

wasn't too familiar with the Fuji machines but he tried to give me

some information. If he finds someone near us, he said he would call

me back. He was very nice.

 

In the past, I have made attempts to find at least one independent

technician but not had any luck. Phone calls have gone nowhere when I

did get a possible contact's name and telephone number.

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I looked through the

different forums to see where the best place to post this would be.

I'm not a big fan about cross posting unless necessary because it

gets people understandably upset and one well-chosen forum usually

suffices.

 

KC

[robert_johnson15]

IIRC, the circulation pumps are ultra-sonic and the replenisher pumps need to be calibrated after replacement. If you have the big manuals (parts and service) that came with the machine, it should be easy assuming you have the right tools and measuring graduates. I took care of two Fuji FP230B processors until we scrapped them and went digital (at a large daily newspaper). Both had processed more than 100,000 rolls each when we retired them from service

 

Robert Johnson

[kc_dougherty]

I spoke to a technician from Fuji (their telephone support) about replacing a geared roller within the rack [the short answer was that I had to take it apart and that was opening a can of worms] and asked him about the pump.

 

He said that it is relatively easy to swap the pumps but he didn't mention anything about calibration. After some silicone in some strategic places, it appears that any leaks we have are not coming from the pump itself but from one of the feed lines, so we have begun to address that problem.

 

The pump worried me more than the rack (I haven't gotten a rack apart yet that I couldn't get back together) and the work on the rack, with some bracing of drinking straws and rubber bands to keep it from popping apart when I took the side off, went quite well. The harder part was getting all the gears that I replaced to mesh. I'm thinking of calling Fuji to tell the guy how I did it. It was a simple thing but very effective.

 

When I worked for a paper in the late eighties and early nineties, all we shot was black and white. Later, they went to color on the front page. The color film volume was so low they had a minilab do those rolls. Now, they shoot digital or scan photos in.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

KC

[ken_s1]

Hi KC

Wow you do have some old equipment there, however I might know of some people in that area - I will check with my contacts and try to get back with you, or simply send a link to them. There are many people out there that do this kind of work ..some are very reputable and worthwhile - I used to work in a lab that had an old 550 - one of the first - it wasn't UL listed at that time.. so you can imagine..

I do not know what Fuji charges you for repairs, but you can expect to pay a minimum of 80 to 100 an hour for an independent..

 

you can also check http://www.sonman.com/

[kc_dougherty]

That's the ballpark figure for a Fuji tech too. The travel charges are a killer sometimes too. Yes, the machines are old but they still work, most of the time.

 

We are getting a Kodak machine that will do 4R, 5R & 8Rs from digital media. That will keep a lot of the people that we have been losing in the store. Those machines were here before me and I've been here about 13 years. I left the newspaper business full time in 1994 and have been doing free-lance stuff since then.

 

The nice thing about running a lab and shooting on the side is I can expose the film for how I know I will print it. I did a gig in Atlantic City a few years ago for a comedy festival. I over-exposed the color print film a little here and there and then pumped up the colors when I printed it. The client was thrilled beyond words at the quality and the colors, even though I was working the backstage angle. My partner was shooting out front.

 

KC

[kc_dougherty]

Oh. I have been over the safe amount of stress line this week and just re-read your first answer to my post. Yes, the replenisher pumps have to be calibrated. That's not difficult. Calibrating new heaters can be time consuming too but not too difficult. It's when you get into small spaces with wires and fluids that I get really careful. Replacing connectors on wires isn't one of my favorite things to do either (since the new parts often have different clips on the ends and the old ones need to be salvaged).

 

KC

[gee_willikers]

I've found that even if you do call Fuji and you get a repair person out there they will tell you that they haven't worked on that particular machine in 6 months to a year. It's frustrating beyond belief.

 

I am in the same boat that you are, having to maintain a SFA-298/PP-3008AII. I have the service and parts manual. The service manual is great for telling you how to do something, but I have found there are not enough flowcharts for trobleshooting. I can't seem to get "the big picture" of how the machine works overall.

 

I'm going to replace a replinishment pump soon. I was under the impression that the calibrations don't have to be spot on. Within 2 mL should be fine, as the working tanks are quite large. Such a small variance won't amount to much. You can always fine tune it by looking at your control chart trend.

[alex_trapp]

<p>I am a fuji minilab tech. I work for Retail Imaging. We are based out of Oregon but we service minilabs nation wide. we take on all kinds of companys ranging from Sam's Club, Rite-Aid and Fred Meyer's to independent photolabs. We beat out Fuji in service and price every time! look us up on the internet, give us a call, you'll be happy you did!</p>