Personalizer Plus - Repair or Replace? **FIXED!!**

TK Steingass

TK Steingass

Knifemaker - Buckeye
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Oct 16, 2010
Messages
5,635
Greetings Gents - Well, after 11 years of faithful service, my Personalizer Plus etcher is like my useless son-in-law: it works when it wants to. Other than checking for frayed wires and poor grounds, I have no idea how to troubleshoot this machine. Can't seem to find their website to see if they repair them - I hate to spend $275 for a new one.

Any suggestions?

Be well,

TK
 
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Shouldn't really be much to one of those. Maybe a bad rectifier or a break in a wire? Do you have (or know how to use) a multimeter? You can check continuity from one end of each wire to the next. Wiggle them around and see if anything changes. It probably uses a bridge rectifier to swap back and forth from AC to DC. That's easy enough to check with a DMM. There's plenty of YouTube vids on it. You can also check the transformer, though those usually work or they don't.
Another simple test, without even taking it apart would be to see what your voltage between the pad and ground are when switched from etch to darken. Etch should be DC, darken should be AC, so you'll have to switch your meter accordingly.

I'd suspect a loose connection or a bad wire, if it works intermittently, unless something finally let the magic smoke loose. Does anything smell burnt inside?
 
I don't know about the Personalizer Plus but on the etching machine I built there is a small inline fuse. If yours has one, I'd get about a dozen of the fuses as you will most likely blow one every time you run a trouble shooting test. On mine there is a bridge rectifier and the transformer that Drew mentioned. That's about it. And the wiring. If you decide to start replacing parts I'd go with the bridge rectifier first. However if that isn't the problem you will likely blow it just like you would the fuses as you test.

And being intermittent can make it a bear to trace down. One other thing you might do is open it up and blow out the inside with compressed air. Have you noticed the problem being more prevalent when it's either hotter or colder in your shop? You could always stick it in the refrigerator for a bit to cool it down or use a hair dryer to heat it up. If it quits working under one of those conditions it will at least give you a starting point.

I couldn't find their website either and my Google foo is usually pretty good. Most likely the name Personalizer Plus is just a name and the Manufacturer is named different.

Hope this helps. Best of luck
 
I find intermittent issues with an etcher usually are caused by the carbon block and pad, or the wires. The wires can get corroded inside the banana plugs. Changing the wires is a good idea. Then make sure the hole in the block is freshly reamed a bit to make good contact. Any corrosion at the terminals on the etcher needs to be cleaned away with a fine wire brush.
 
Like Stacy said there isn't much to be intermittent inside an etching machine, transformer, diodes, fuse - those are either "ON" or "OFF". The wiring connections to the pad and pad itself is most likely where you'll find corrosion issues. That all those apart and clean - bet your problems will be over - with the etcher anyway. We can't help you with the S-I-L problems :)
 
i had one of those.. mine like your died .. i sent it in for Repair.. got a call 2 weeks later and was told it would cost more to fix it than to buy a new one..
i said fine tell me what i owe you and ship mine back to me.. NEVER got it back or a request to pay for them to check out what was wrong with THEIR machine..
i figured i would cut my losses at that point.. i still want to Build a etcher so if anyone has simple plans please let me know..
 
Pinoy Knife said:
i had one of those.. mine like your died .. i sent it in for Repair.. got a call 2 weeks later and was told it would cost more to fix it than to buy a new one..
i said fine tell me what i owe you and ship mine back to me.. NEVER got it back or a request to pay for them to check out what was wrong with THEIR machine..
i figured i would cut my losses at that point.. i still want to Build a etcher so if anyone has simple plans please let me know..
Click to expand...
That's BS and very poor customer service.

TK, if you can't figure it out, send me a message. If you want to cover shipping to and from me, I'll take a look at it for no charge. If I have the parts to fix it, I'll do so for free, but worse case it shouldn't cost more than $10 to replace anything in there.
 
Drew i really appreciate the offer but they NEVER shipped it back to me.. so i gots nothing but a bad experience..
id love a simply laid out set of parts/what goes where kind of thing so i could build one (maybe even better) than what they were selling..
im not great with electronics but soldering and assembling parts are a 100% do able just need to know what connects to what??
maybe even a fancy thing like a voltage display .. if you p.m me id love to talk about it maybe on the phone..
 
Pinoy Knife said:
Drew i really appreciate the offer but they NEVER shipped it back to me.. so i gots nothing but a bad experience..
id love a simply laid out set of parts/what goes where kind of thing so i could build one (maybe even better) than what they were selling..
im not great with electronics but soldering and assembling parts are a 100% do able just need to know what connects to what??
maybe even a fancy thing like a voltage display .. if you p.m me id love to talk about it maybe on the phone..
Click to expand...
Sorry for the confusion; I had replied to your post, but I also meant the repair offer to the original poster, Mr. Steingass. I'd certainly offer to look yours over as well, but you already mentioned that they never returned it, which boggles my mind by the way.

As far building your own, they are pretty simple once you break them down. Red Beard Ops has a video on building one per Chris Crawford's design schematic:

As far as variable voltages and fancy electronic displays, it sounds cool, but it's not really necessary. I center tapped a 24 volt transformer when I built my etcher years ago, so I can switch from low (12V) to high (24V) ac or dc voltage. That said, I almost never use the 24 volt settings anymore, as it tended to burn up my stencils. 12V will give the same etch, you just have to wait a little longer.

You're welcome to DM me with any questions.
 
I bet sanding the carbon block clean with 400 grit and gently reaming the hole with a drill bit will cure the issue. New test lead cables will cost probably $5 on Amazon.
 
Thanks for all the great comments fellas - I appreciate the input and offers to help. I finally fixed the SOB.....I checked the fuse, it was good. I got the multimeter out and started working around and found I had output voltage inside the box but it wasn't getting across the etch block/ground. The culprit was the ground lead - it looked absolutely fine on the outside but it had a short somewhere inside. After replacing both leads it works like a champ. Life is good. :)
 
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