dicky
26-10-2015, 06:29 PM
I was gonna put this in the tech section but wanted to bring it to anyones and everyones attention who has one of these QTX QTFX-B3 Mega Bubble Machines
As you most likely know I like buying and fixing stuff and this came with a job lot of kit I got.
When I got it on the bench I have to say I am appaled by the build quality of this nasty bit of kit. QTX (AVSL) seem to make some low quality kit (though it often works quite well) but this one takes the biscuit.
Firstly the bubble machine is like an open tunnel, front to back and there is nothing to prevent the Bubble Liquid gettting into the rear of the unit and into the mains voltages! should you overfill it or simply pick it up and tip it backwards a bit.
The manufacturers took a slight effort to cover the bare live terminal of the power socket with a bit of silicone goo (see green arrow in pic) maybe they thought this was a good enough safety feature? It wouldn't matter anyway even if the silicone is intact - there is enough bare metal on the LIVE and nuetral pins of the mains input socket just below the push on spade terminals for the wires to attach. You can see by the rusty deposits and track marks on the slope into the rear LIVE electrics compartment that liquid has already been back here at some point! Where that green arrow points this is LIVE mains!
Oh and the funny little round thing covered in heatshrink I wondered what was going on there and it is actually an electrolytic capacitor with some diodes wired across the pins to form a bridge rectifier. OK this is not dangerous in itself (this is the low voltage side of the power supply that is held in place with a cable tie to the edge of the fan) but come on - how much effort and cost would it take to make a PCB to mount these components?
It's just nasty nasty nasty and I hate to think how many safety regulations this thing contravenes. I won't even be attempting to fix it, this abomination belongs in the nearest bin after breaking it up first to prevent it ever being used again.
I might keep the on-off switch and the fan though - they could be useful for something worthwhile.
Rich
As you most likely know I like buying and fixing stuff and this came with a job lot of kit I got.
When I got it on the bench I have to say I am appaled by the build quality of this nasty bit of kit. QTX (AVSL) seem to make some low quality kit (though it often works quite well) but this one takes the biscuit.
Firstly the bubble machine is like an open tunnel, front to back and there is nothing to prevent the Bubble Liquid gettting into the rear of the unit and into the mains voltages! should you overfill it or simply pick it up and tip it backwards a bit.
The manufacturers took a slight effort to cover the bare live terminal of the power socket with a bit of silicone goo (see green arrow in pic) maybe they thought this was a good enough safety feature? It wouldn't matter anyway even if the silicone is intact - there is enough bare metal on the LIVE and nuetral pins of the mains input socket just below the push on spade terminals for the wires to attach. You can see by the rusty deposits and track marks on the slope into the rear LIVE electrics compartment that liquid has already been back here at some point! Where that green arrow points this is LIVE mains!
Oh and the funny little round thing covered in heatshrink I wondered what was going on there and it is actually an electrolytic capacitor with some diodes wired across the pins to form a bridge rectifier. OK this is not dangerous in itself (this is the low voltage side of the power supply that is held in place with a cable tie to the edge of the fan) but come on - how much effort and cost would it take to make a PCB to mount these components?
It's just nasty nasty nasty and I hate to think how many safety regulations this thing contravenes. I won't even be attempting to fix it, this abomination belongs in the nearest bin after breaking it up first to prevent it ever being used again.
I might keep the on-off switch and the fan though - they could be useful for something worthwhile.
Rich