Thanks for all of you who sent me feedback (unless you have more insights
regarding the EPR division, you can stop commenting now :-) ). Special
thanks to Clemens Anklin from Bruker NMR who filled me in on the NMR
division policy and helped elucidate the EPR Division's policy.
NMR Summary: Whatever this new epr Bruker policy is regarding technical
manuals it is *not* part of Bruker NMR. Bruker NMR is continuing to supply
a large selection of manuals, technical, schematic, end-user oriented, etc.
on CD-ROM. In a personal communication, Clemens told me the following:
"In NMR we are distributing all the technical manuals on CD-ROM and will
continue
to do so. Due to the technical developments the manuals become less detailed as
to drawing every last resistor and all the cricuitry. We increasingly use
intergrated components and socalled ASIC's application specific integrated
circuits."....."Since repair in a university or company electronics shop
is in many cases no
longer possible the important documentation tells you how to identify
quickly and
reliably which board is broken and we will send you a new one...." C.Anklin
As one party pointed out "...I can testify to the veracity of Clemens'
comments ---
I'm up to my neck in manuals from Bruker with our new system. The problem
is knowing
where to look!!!! "
Clemens shared several of these manuals (PDF format) with me. They are
definitely a step or twenty above the earlier (AM, AC) manuals that I've
seen and used and appear to be quite professional and very detailed. The
most highly integrated and digital boards (e.g., FCU) contain block
diagrams, parts layouts, test points, jumpers, I/O, addressing, and command
schemes, etc.. At the other extreme, the traditional "analog" boards
(e.g., amplifiers) have *very* detailed schematic breakdowns among many
other detailed engineering descriptions. If you are still concerned and/or
are in the process of bidding out your NMR business then drop Clemens a
line and he will share with you privately.
Of course, if you are *really* concerned then you can do what many have
suggested and what we, in fact, did during our NMR upgrades: make the
manuals a component of the sales agreement.
Bruker EPR Summary: I will withold judgement until I receive further
information from Art Heiss. Based on some limited personal communications
there does appear to be a break with the usual and customary standard which
is to provide technical manuals as part of the purchase within the EPR
division. I would certainly appreciate any more follow ups and comments
related to *EPR* on this from the group. Please send them to me and not to
the NMR list. In the meantime, if you are contemplating a purchase from
Bruker EPR then you should be very careful to state what expectations you
have with regard to manuals.
cdr
At 11:42 AM 11/19/98, Chris Rithner wrote:
>AMMRLers:
>
>We recently purchased a new console for our Bruker EPR spectrometer; this
>was part of their recent drive to offer substantial discounts as an
>incentive to remove many of the old troublesome legacy consoles out there.
>
>The upgrade has gone smoothly...cheers to the Bruker EPR engineers and
>marketing staff and others who made this happen...
>
>...BUT, I recently discovered that we did not receive the customary and
>usual assortment of manuals either on CD-ROM (which is a convenient and
>standard way vendors distribute it seems) or even a complimentary copy. I
>don't know what specific manuals we are missing but expected at a minimum
>the console, bridge, and power supply schematics, various technical
>manuals, and, perhaps, a more complete user manual, console features, etc..
>The usual stuff, the stuff Bruker has always supplied, and the stuff the
>PER division under Art Heiss has done an admirable job with.
>
>When we inquired about this apparent lack we were told that (I parapharase)
>"...it is recent corporate (i.e., from the mothership) policy *NOT* to
>provide these manuals in any form to our customers...this policy first
>instituted in nmr division and now applied across the other instrument
>lines including epr..."
>
>I will reserve further comments and opinions for a more private forum, but
>I have several questions for our community.
>
>Is this for real ?
>
>Does this bother anyone else in nmr/epr/magnetic resonance land?
>
>Has anyone been affected by this policy yet? What was your response?
>
>What is the rationale for this policy ?
>
>???
>
>I'll compile responses that I receive for a summary, if appropriate.
>
>cdr
*****************************
Christopher D. Rithner
Director, Central Instrument Facility
Research Associate Professor
Chemistry Department
Colorado State University
Ft. Collins, CO 80523
970-491-6475 (or x1801 for fax)
cdr@chem.colostate.edu
http://www.chm.colostate.edu