[labnetwork] Heidelberg Instruments stage interferometer laser replacement

[Erica Alvarez Conde]

Hello Mark;

In KAUST, we did the replacement and alignment of the laser source for the DWL2000 tool, during the COVID pandemic (2020), with Heidelberg's assistance on WhatsApp. At that time it was almost mandatory to do it this way as they couldn't come to Saudi.
The fact is that Heidelberg is expensive, they charged us the same price per hour as if it was a real service, in person. In my opinion, this is not fare, as we used more time, I'm not a laser engineer, we were using Whatsapp, not even a video call, and it took me more time to adjust things. Based on my experience the customer service Heidelberg provide is far away from a good one. I feel they are not open to sharing maintenance procedures and sometimes the suggestions they give when we ask for solving a problem are very poor, like "Have you tried restarting the tool?".
Depending on the service engineer assigned to your tool you will get better or worse assistance.

All the best.
Erica Alvarez Conde
Senior Technical Specialist, Nanofabrication Core Lab
KAUST King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
Building 3, Level 0, Office 0250-WS05
Thuwal 23955-6900
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Office:  +966 12 808 0752 Mobile: +966 (0) 544700505
Email: erica.alvarezconde at kaust.edu.sa<mailto:erica.alvarezconde at kaust.edu.sa>
Website: www.kaust.edu.sa<http://www.kaust.edu.sa/> , https://corelabs.kaust.edu.sa/

NOTE: Remember that the weekends in Saudi Arabia are Fridays and Saturdays

From: labnetwork <labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu> On Behalf Of Mark Chiappa
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2023 4:16 PM
To: Lewis,William <blewis at eng.ufl.edu>; Greg Holloway <greg.holloway at uwaterloo.ca>; labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu
Subject: Re: [labnetwork] Heidelberg Instruments stage interferometer laser replacement

Hi Greg,

We also have an MLA150 and last year the laser power got very low and It had to be replaced.  Yes they are expensive, I´d already bought one to have onsite as a spare and reduce downtime.  When the time came HIMT would not send me a procedure or offer to do some of the job remotely we had to have a service visit.  I guess there are some differences between the DWL and the MLA.  The engineer did have to do a fair amount of work in the software.  The difference may just be HIMT´s own experience with the replacement.

I´m interested to hear if anyone had been allowed to do it themselves.

Kind regards
Mark.


From: labnetwork <labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu>> on behalf of Lewis,William <blewis at eng.ufl.edu<mailto:blewis at eng.ufl.edu>>
Date: Thursday, 12 January 2023 at 01:59
To: Greg Holloway <greg.holloway at uwaterloo.ca<mailto:greg.holloway at uwaterloo.ca>>, labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu> <labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>>
Subject: Re: [labnetwork] Heidelberg Instruments stage interferometer laser replacement
Hi Greg,

I have replaced ours 2 times (DWL66fs model) but purchased from (and with guidance by)Heidelberg.  The procedure to install is fairly easy.  Heidelberg has given us a price break for self installation i.e. no service visit.  You would need to talk to them about that.  Purchasing from Renishaw directly was only about 2K less when they quoted me and there is no installation guarantee.

Yep, it's not cheap.

Bill Lewis
Research Service Center
University of Florida
1041 Center Dr
Gainesville, FL 32611
walewis at ufl.edu<mailto:walewis at ufl.edu>
3five2-258-zero5zero7
https://rsc.aux.eng.ufl.edu/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/rsc.aux.eng.ufl.edu/__;!!Nmw4Hv0!zfuG-RtQYRem81qFXYH7bJBPWKxF2bdixVkIVJ4fCPaJLqfm66YAvP6dIK_0R1GPdONtvkRldW-xGo-RC3M9mcr8vEGtMFzOFg$>




From: labnetwork <labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu>> On Behalf Of Greg Holloway
Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2023 3:04 PM
To: labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu<mailto:labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu>
Subject: [labnetwork] Heidelberg Instruments stage interferometer laser replacement

[External Email]
Hello,

We have an MLA150 from Heidelberg instruments which we've been running for ~5 years. At the last annual PM, we were told by Heidelberg that the stage interferometer laser was approaching its end of life, as the signal is getting weaker. Heidelberg quoted us the cost for a refurbished laser unit, and we were surprised by how expensive it was. I was wondering how owners of other Heidelberg Instruments tools have proceeded in this situation? Does everyone just get the unit directly from Heidelberg, or has anyone attempted any thriftier alternatives such as repairing or replacing themselves?

The laser unit is a Renishaw RLU10-A3-A3.

Best,
-Greg Holloway
QNFCF: University of Waterloo
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