Recently one of our oldest customers asked us if we could do an unusual service/repair job on an old SCITS100 of theirs. The problem was that the settings on the V/A rotary dial had worn away/faded due to continued use. Obviously this could lead to errors when doing AC/DC testing up to 100 amps.
Our customer had tried to write the display settings on the panel with a black marker, but these too had worn away due to the harsh environments and constant usuage the instrument was subject to.
As can be seen in the photograph of the unit (above), trying to set the V/A output on the unit was only for those engineers with a good memory! Joking aside, setting the output to the incorrect range could lead to potentially dangerous situations.
The fact that the Foster (now Megger) SCITS100 is obsolete and has been for many years meant we couldn't ask the manufacturer about supplying a new front panel, so we had to think out of the box a little bit.
We began by taking photographs with a digital camera of the section of the panel that needed restoring. These images were then imported into Adobe Photoshop to be re-drawn, re-touched and re-sized. We tried to keep the background colour as close to the original as possible, along with the all the text and shapes.
When we were happy with the finished design it was passed back to our calibration lab who set about making it into a practical panel. After much trial and error the replacement was ready. The image below shows the SCITS100 with its replacement panel in place.
And finally a close-up of the panel.
Cuthbertson Laird Group have calibration labs in Leeds, Hamilton and Belfast. If you need a repair or calibration on your test instruments give us a call. You may be pleasantly surprised at what we can do!