plasma fixed thanks to Shop-River on Ebay!

[peterd51]

Hi,

I bought some consumables off Ebay a while back, company called Shop-River in China and I sent an email to them asking if they could find a replacement board for my plasma cutter and quote a price for me to buy it.

They asked if I could send a photo rather than just the board number, so I did, and they came back with a postage costs of US$60, but no charge for the board!

That's about what I'd hoped to pay for the board and postage so I sent the money by Paypal about a week ago and the board arrived yesterday.

I installed it today and it works!

This board is slightly different, here's the original...



and here's the new one...



I've altered the angle slightly so you can spot that one of the main output diodes is now two diodes mounted upright with a link between them.

Also three blue capacitors in the middle are now one big one and a few components on the mains input side have moved around.

The board number is very different on the new one making me think it's a different maker. But it works so I'm not complaining!

I'd recommend Shop-River to anyone who wants parts or consumables for any Chinese made kit. Their service is excellent, emails responded to promptly and they kept me in touch with what was happening all along.

Compared with Berlan who, it seems to me, strung me along for a couple of months to run out any time period where I might have got my money back.

The daft thing is they could have had another sale if they'd just quoted me a reasonable price to buy a replacement board...

Regards
Peter

 

[Hitch]

Whats that, about £40? I reckon you struggle to get a board for a portamig for that

 

[snowcat]

Whats that, about £40? I reckon you struggle to get a board for a portamig for that

nearer £30 at the mo hitch, thats quite a bargain......

 

[Roop]

I can also recommend Shop-River. I ordered some spares for my plasmacutter and they where promptly shipped and they are dirt cheap compared to sellers in Europe (even when taking VAT and shipping into account). Also very fast replies on emails. A lot of European sellers should use him as an example. I do not know how things are in the UK but here in the Netherlands service from weldinggear suppliers is in general :full. Most of them do never reply to emails and if you call them they are not interested to sell anything because they are not dealing with a company but with a private user. Prices are usually listprices on which you get no discounts. There are 1 or 2 exeptions but it limits the choice of brands of equipment and they are not cheap. (Cebora is well represented in the professional hobby segment). I' ll have some interesting discussions with supppliers on the Technishow fair next week!
Ok, rant off.....congratulations Peter with your repaired plasma. I hope you wil get some good use out of your machine.

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

yes, it was £31 in total.

I've had some experience of 'service' standards in the Netherlands...

We needed another PC for the office, pretty desperate as we'd got a new employee.

Visited several computer shops in Amsterdam, all the same story, "you can't have it now, we have to order it, it'll be here next week"...

And when it arrived, like everything else we bought there, it was 20% higher than the quoted price.

"Ah, yes, we have to add some-tax-or-other-that-we've-just-thought-of", etc.

I could understand if they were just ripping off a foreigner (me) but our management were all Dutch.

Regards
Peter

 

[shiftyseamus]

As a fellow Berlan owner, I've been following this with a vested interest!!

Glad you've got it sorted Peter.

Seamus

 

[JW240]

Good to hear that there is hope for Chinese plasma cutter replacement parts!

The service of welding suppliers in the Netherlands can be quite poor, i bought my machine in Germany, excellent help and service, even on a second hand machine that they sold for a very good price.

 

[lexi]

Yes I`ve dealt with them and first class they are. I think this will get more common ie getting boards etc from Chinese companies. That shop sells Mitec stuff. Steve has went a bit quiet on this excellent bit of Chinese aftersales service......lol!

Alex

 

[peterd51]

Hi,

well, horses for courses, as they say.

If I had a bit more cash then I'd buy decent quality kit off Weldequip. I'd buy parts for my Chinese kit too if he supplied it.

As he doesn't (yet?) and there are loads of people buying cheaper Chinese kit then people like Shop-River will pick up the after-sales revenues.

Having said that, they're in a position over there where they could probably get different items from multiple suppliers, while someone based here wouldn't know where to start.

So many Chinese companies seem to copy off each other it'd be difficult to keep up to speed on all the different variations.

And if I thought there was even a 'part-time income' in it without too much hassle I'd be selling replacement boards for Chinese welders, etc! That may change over the next few years, who can say?

Regards
Peter

 

[weldequip]

Steve has went a bit quiet on this excellent bit of Chinese aftersales service......lol!

I'm out of the welding game now Alex... gone into building. Currently got a gang of Chinese lads up in Scotland, putting up some new builds & renovating old mills into apartments etc. Ouid an hour... bargain!
weldequip

 

[zardoz]

That seems like a good bargain team you have there Steve. Can i rent out a couple to do my back garden for a few days!

 

[lexi]

I'm out of the welding game now Alex... gone into building. Currently got a gang of Chinese lads up in Scotland, putting up some new builds & renovating old mills into apartments etc. Ouid an hour... bargain!
weldequip

Excellent mate! Sounds like the old YOP scheme revisted..lol

Alex