Learn to use the edit and multiquote buttons
Ya, the problem here now in this thread is that you are not reading my posts. To summarize:
- jayrob build, very hard to work with, was very careful to ensure HS and pill turned at the same time, still there must have been a very slight deviation in spinning both at the same time, shorted out the driver output killing the driver. i asked for a replacement for the driver and was refused.
- flaminpyro build, diode was bad and failed. was not offered a refund or exchange.
- the case pin soldered to the anode was never powered up. i saw the connection before applying power (but after taking the pics) and left the case pin floating
- i always short out the output of a driver after testing on a dummy load regardless of if its needed or not
- drivers were never powered on without being on a load
i hope that clears things up.
I wouldn't worry, I don't think Plexus's comments reflect badly on anyone concerned at all.
I think whenever transactions take place, in any context, there's always the risk of expectations on both sides not aligning exactly, and that's what I see here.
His review and comments are his honest perspective, and he seems to have delivered it in as unbiased a way as possible.[snip]
thanks bbshamsa. that was my intent. i do not know flaminpyro or jayrob personally. i decided to buy BOTH kits so i could compare and do a review. this is my review (and more to come with measurements). the point here was for ME to take the costs of buying these two different kits to provide a review FOR YOU (and this forum). there was no benefit to me in doing this. the benefit was to you and future builders.
These are my experiences. I did not hope nor intend for there to be any issues, but there were as stated. That allowed me to see what post-sale customer service was like with these two sellers.
There is no doubt that FLaminpyro, jayrob, drlava and all the other people that have gone out of their way to make products for us hobbyists, are fantastic and amazing and I, like you, am simply blown away that they'd do this for us. Thank you.
However, anyone who sells a product opens themselves up to the world of retail which includes customer service. You can avoid it or ignore it but the fact of the matter is, it is expected. This is one reason I got out of my "small tool" business because there was too much customer care require. I, niavely, thought that just making these tools would be give me thanks enough, but no. I was selling something to people, they were paying with their hard earned money, and expected customer support. That is fair.
I also know that I was opening myself up to possible back-lash because these people (FP< jayrob, et al) are highly regarded for making these products available to us. It is as much a labour of love as we as customers and hobbyists love lasers. But, I felt it would be worth it to give you and prospective kit builders some insight into the different kits, and seller, so you can make an informed decision.
If you buy jayrob's SS032 kit be prepared to work hard to get the pill and sink to turn at the same time and open yourself to risks associated with this (shorts). You can (and should) insulate all connection just in case this happens (especially the diode leads).
Jayrob's kit (over-all) is more expensive than Flayminpyro's. FP's kit does not require you to spin the two parts of jayrob's kit at the same time.
So you might think its a no brainer to get FP's kit. Maybe. There may be benefits to jayrob's kit. I want to spend more time with these two builds and do some measurement of heat dissipation before I say for sure, because I am seeing evidence that jayrob's kit is better at sinking heat and therefore might be worth extra money, hassle and risks.
If you could please give me some time, I will eventually provide details and measurements.
However, since one of the diodes FP sold me died and I was not offered a replacement (even though he agreed the diode was a problem from the start, and i even offered to split the difference), and, the flex drive in jayrob's kit died because of the short (and there are no more flex drives available) i am not going to be able to compare apples to apples.
The comparison will be done using FP's build+445nm+flexdrive vs jayrob's+12x405+microboost. It will not be an accurate comparison. If i could get another flex drive and another 445 i would be able to do an apples to apples comparison but I am not going to spend another $80US just to do this comparison.
In fact as i type this out i am questioning the value of comparing these two builds in terms of heat dissipation because they are now so different electronically. its probably not worth doing.
