okay.

Radiographic processing is necessary for the 

production of the useful visible image.

It links exposure to interpretation and 

influences.

Quality maintenance programs and general 

guidelines are presented.

This discussion includes lubrication,

maintenance and troubleshooting related to 

radiographic processing and the automatic processor 

in radiographic processing.

Of course,

we have the need to provide 

consistent quality to the production of the 

visible image.

The automatic process in itself was invented.

It was derived to provide us with electromechanical system 

that would provide us consistency of the processing situation.

Specifically the chemical reactions which are 

undertaken to produce the visible image,

the useful image.

So we have electromechanical device.

But this device is not an elaborate 

computer operated mechanism that is 

self sustaining.

It does have problems.

It does need maintenance.

It does need a knowledgeable operator who can 

service it,

who can maintain it and thereby 

effect,

if you will.

A certain level of electromechanical 

consistency,

the consistency of the system itself.

There is a relationship between maintenance and troubleshooting.

The troubleshooting aspect is simply a failure 

of your maintenance program.

So one way to judge whether or not you have an effective maintenance 

program is to ascertain well how much trouble 

shooting do you do?

Is this a once a day,

uh,

function?

Is it the situation where you're constantly in 

that process,

er,

trying to fix it or maintain it,

repair it or just it?

Or is it that you basically only have to 

service machine once every couple weeks or so?

So troubleshooting?

The more you do is a good indication of how 

good or bad that your basic maintenance program,

maybe,

as we look at the slide,

we can see that every endeavor in radiology or in 

radiographic processing should fall into one of these 

categories.

Certainly optimization of quality.

We need consistent quality.

And once we have established consistency,

then we can optimize quality again.

The more that we troubleshoot,

that means,

or that is an indicator of a failure of our 

maintenance program.

Of course,

if our quality is not consistent,

that results in trouble and the trouble must be sorted 

out.

So we have trouble shooting.

But as you go along in your effort to optimize 

quality and because you will on occasion,

no matter how good your maintenance system be involved in 

troubleshooting a problem and resolving it,

keep in mind that we need to compensate on occasion,

we may want to remove the 

problem.

We maybe have to compensate for it.

Adjust for it so that the problem is 

minimized,

allowing us to better troubleshoot and thereby 

our very first step optimize quality 

to elaborate on these a little further,

we can say that we can optimize quality through maintenance,

maintenance programs,

repair modification,

modernization,

cleaning up grading records,

removing variables,

controlling the variables and monitoring and 

experimentation during routine 

troubleshooting.

Don't just eliminate the problem.

Determine its cause.

Try to learn from it.

Let it teach you so that you learn more about your machinery 

and the way it works and the way it fails.

Record the circumstances of its occurrence.

Keep records,

determine the best way to solve it and the best way to prevent a 

recurrence.

Never,

ever sweep it under the carpet as 

unimportant because as 

a problem,

it will simply lay there under the carpet.

And it will be a source that allow you to trip 

over in the future and in radiology 

because we are working with ionizing 

radiation.

That means that if we have a a problem in the 

processor that necessitates a repeat of the 

patient's film.

This doubles the exposure to the patient and this is 

not correct.

So therefore we need to not sweep it under the carpet,

take it out,

examine it,

try to learn from it,

and eventually maybe,

uh,

the second or third time that it happens may require this.

We eventually will learn how to remove the problem 

and thereby achieve a better level of quality than what 

we had in the past.

Some problems will be outside the control of processing 

outside of the capabilities of electromechanical 

systems built into your processor,

and thus we must compensate for the deficiency to 

maintain quality and minimize further problems.

There are several types of programs to be considered.

The first is predictive maintenance.

Now most of you know about preventive maintenance,

but we'll start with predictive maintenance.

Predictive maintenance says that you know enough 

about your process,

er that you can predict failure.

You allow things to wear.

You allow things to deteriorate.

Chain on the main drive motor may 

wear the sprocket because the chain is case hardened and the 

sprocket is not.

And this is true of almost all processors.

So therefore we allow this 

chain to wear away.

But on occasion we will inspect to see if the chain is 

misaligned,

if it needs lubrication or if something is 

causing excessive wear.

But because indeed there is normal wear 

this where we'll continue and we can monitor it.

We can keep records of it.

We can observe the function of the 

chain and it's driving of these 

sprockets and eventually we will get to a 

point where we say Okay,

it looks like the sprocket will no longer hold up,

that it will eventually deteriorate completely and at this 

point we predict failure.

So therefore we prevent failure and this leads us 

into preventive maintenance.

So first we must predict failure.

We predict wear and tear.

We predict how the system will function and how it 

will age or deteriorate.

Next,

we establish a method of preventing that 

failure by ordering supplies,

keeping records and instituting or 

installing the new product or the new 

procedure before the old one fails.

So that's how we really get to preventive 

maintenance.

Preventive maintenance,

as such normally says,

you just simply prevent failure,

but that can be very consuming of both time and 

money.

If we do nothing but run around putting in new 

components whether or not the machine needs it.

So it's better to practice predictive maintenance and 

allow that to educate you in the peculiarities of 

your own processor and lead you into a useful 

preventive maintenance program.

Either Program one or the other or 

both together can be scheduled or non 

scheduled.

The schedule says that he will go in 

once a week.

You'll make an inspection.

You may clean.

You may replace a certain component.

The non schedule can be used with a scheduled 

or by itself.

This just simply says on an arbitrary basis in 

a non scheduled way.

We will investigate what the processor is doing,

You might say.

Okay,

every Friday afternoon is when I have free 

time that I can work on the process,

er.

But on a Wednesday or on a Monday or Saturday,

I will,

on an unscheduled a non scheduled basis,

inspect the machine to see if I can't learn a little bit 

more about the process.

Er,

in this unscheduled way,

perhaps the best kind of program is a tailor 

made program.

This really sounds a 

peculiar because what I am suggesting is 

that you look in your manuals.

You consider the recommendations of the 

manufacturer of your equipment,

the recommendations of salesmen and your 

instructors and so forth.

But then you sit down and you take your 

processor in your department and you 

consider,

well,

how am I using this machine?

Are we putting through 300 films per 

hour every hour of the day?

Does it run 24 hours,

or does it run only eight hours?

Do you only put through 300 films per hour 

in the first or second hour of the day?

Exactly how do you use the machine?

Does the machine get 1000 films a day 

For only 300?

So you have to analyze the way the machinery is used 

and then develop a program from all of this.

Other outside information,

a program that will help you maintain your equipment.

Best to give you the best 

electromechanical efficiency I think you 

all have experienced at one time or another.

Or you can discuss this with your supervisors,

the problems that occur with processors that are located in surgery 

or outpatient clinics where there may be less 

usage than occurs in main diagnostic,

the machine that is isolated in surgery,

for instance,

is usually less well maintained,

and it has a very low volume of film put through 

it.

And yet an identical machine to this one can be 

placed in main diagnostic and have perhaps only 

1/10 of the problems and far 

less inconsistencies sensitive metric Lee.

So this,

then is a practical example,

and the way that we would tailor make our maintenance program.

We certainly need the same degree of quality 

in a machine that's used in a special situation,

such as in surgery as we do.

For the multitude of films that come out of main 

diagnostic quality is quality.

We cannot make an exception.

So to ensure the quality,

we adapt our maintenance program to this 

to this consideration.

To help you do this,

you want to consider establishing process of records.

First of all,

you might have a record file,

or you may have a book for every processor in 

which people write down people.

Your own maintenance staff.

You're supervisors,

equipment personnel,

chief technologist processing 

technologists or darkened personnel.

Anybody who might work on the process er have a jam 

in some way alter processing 

conditions or do something to the 

process.

Er they should write it down,

and then on a regular basis you can keep the records up to date.

This is one way that you can find out how many parts you're putting into a 

processor,

whether or not you need to perhaps modify your 

maintenance program or any 

kind of other information you may need,

such as cost accounting for 

record systems in the efficiency of the department.

Maintain an exact maintenance program.

Well,

this is really a part of this tailor made idea.

If we establish process of records and we keep the records up 

today,

the records will guide us.

So tell us where we have been and will tell us 

also ways that we go in the future.

One way that we can establish an exact maintenance program,

uh,

tailor,

make it to the needs of our department to our machinery.

So we get the best efficiency and the best dollar value 

out of the processor and efficiency in the entire 

department would be to come up with some 

sort of conditions cleaning 

rollers,

training chemistry and cleaning out the tanks wiping down the 

outside a set of conditions that seem reasonable 

to you and your department with your own problems.

Next,

you establish a list or discuss with the 

supervisor,

and then you maintain the machine very exactly for a month or 

two.

At the end of this period,

you sit down and analyze what you have done some things 

you very easily and obviously recognize as 

having been done.

Too much of other conditions will 

say,

Well,

I didn't do enough of cleaning or adjustments 

in this one case.

While I will add this to my next program,

and after six months or a year,

you will come up with a very specific program that will be 

extremely useful and well worth the effort.

If you do not choose this exact maintenance type of 

program,

the only other alternative would be to sort of hop 

Scotch around,

hoping that you don't miss too much.

And that,

of course,

would lead to electromechanical 

inconsistencies and inconsistencies in 

the sense of geometry of the processor.

Here is a chart.

For instance,

when cleaning and lubrication,

we can read it two ways.

Many people clean the crossovers once a day.

You should sometime during the week,

other than on this daily basis inspect to see if if 

perhaps the rollers are dirty,

maybe at three o'clock in the afternoon,

more so than they are at eight o'clock in the morning 

or vice versa.

Many people clean rollers at the end of the day.

But how do you know?

The rollers are not really dirtier in the morning,

having sat inside a processor all night long,

and the fumes have collected on the rollers and so forth.

So you inspect and you make a decision,

and you learn from the experience.

Many people will clean the deep rollers,

perhaps once a month,

once every six months,

so we can read this chart the other way.

We can say Well,

if you do it in an infrequent basis,

then consider taking out the deep racks and rinsing them 

off to reduce the amount of debris to allow yourself to 

inspect these components and then put them back 

in.

This will allow the deep rollers or the big 

rack assemblies to remain cleaner longer throughout the 

month and also at the end of the month or chemistry 

change on a six month basis.

You'll find that the rack will be easier to clean,

thereby saving you time in the long run.

Of course,

we don't need just complete,

uh,

completely clean systems.

We need systems that have been inspected.

We need to make sure that not only is it clean,

but it functions correctly.

So every time you clean or you work on a piece of 

equipment,

be sure to inspect all the components.

Not just that.

What you're working with.

Of course,

as you clean,

you will remove lubricants,

lubricants and themselves with lots of guys and 

deeply so different periods of time 

required that we inspect lubrication 

points and we apply lubricants.

Check your replenishment for accuracy of 

the pump and for reproducibility of the 

pump,

the pump is affected by head pressure and different times.

Throughout the week,

we will have different quantities of chemistry in the 

replenishment tank that can affect replenishment rates.

So check it frequently at least once a week.

Check your hyper retention.

This is the archival quality ability of the film.

Check this once a week until you have it under control.

Then you might do it once every six months,

clean and replace filters.

Well,

this is anybody's guess.

To explain that it means that this will depend on the 

conditions in your local hospital,

so you start off on a monthly basis.

You try one particular 

micron size filter,

and then you adjust accordingly.

Keeping very close records.

Replace tubing about once a year in peace or in total 

tubing.

Will only last about a year's objected to the kinds of 

chemistry and the temperatures that we work with,

and they should be replaced.

Of course,

checking sense of geometry is a very useful thing.

Also,

this will aid you in your maintenance program as well as 

in maintaining a consistent,

quality,

sensitive metric Lee.

We can check on a weekly basis or a monthly basis,

or perhaps daily.

Many people check before every special procedure exam,

and those people who do check on a daily basis,

uh,

do so usually in the morning.

The very first thing to ensure that the processor is in the 

best set of conditions ready to receive the patients 

films of the day.

But is the first thing in the morning 

really the best time to check sense of geometry,

or perhaps 10 o'clock in the morning is better or three 

o'clock in the afternoon is better or worse.

this,

you have to decide this is a part of your 

responsibility in developing an exact maintenance 

program for your processor.

Keep in mind that in processing radiographic 

processing,

the processing completes what the exposure started,

which means we must do everything possible to allow 

processing to complement the exposure and not alter the 

exposure.

And that radiography begins and ends in the dark room.

A clean processor is more economical.

It's conducive to good work habits.

Safer s capable of producing better quality radiographs 

simply because it's a clean processor.

It's less time consuming,

It's easier to maintain and repair.

And most people are similar 

in this particular regard in that when 

you work on the equipment,

if it's clean,

if it's well maintained,

if it's easy to work on,

if it's reasonably easy to work on,

if you don't mind working on it,

if it's a real mess,

then this is going to affect your attitude and 

also the safety of yourself when you're working on the 

equipment.

So we might consider,

for instance,

some things to do.

Very simply,

it works this way.

You use your senses,

you smell for burning insulation.

You look for flames,

you might also feel for thumping,

uh,

for grinding for misalignment or look 

for misalignment.

Or listen for these thumping or grinding sounds.

Uh,

you might use a stethoscope,

for instance,

to inspect to see if a bearing is being torn 

apart because of lack of lubrication or misalignment.

Uh,

you use your senses and basically use common 

sense.

This is a valuable piece of equipment that we must 

maintain some of the props that,

uh,

you may want to have handy insofar as cleaning your 

process.

Er,

we have sponges.

Many people say,

Well,

a sponge can't be of to greater 

value,

but In reality we find that almost all of the 

dirt in an automatic processor is gelatin.

Gelatin abraded off from the film,

and this gelatin will hold dirt.

But the gelatin breaks down and relatively cool 

water,

if you will.

It's warm and perhaps 120°, so you don't 

need a lot of scrubbing.

There are other devices that you can use 

tools.

These are two different styles are 

used,

as you can see of scotch bright pads.

Scotch bright pads comes in some five different colors,

which indicate different levels of abrasiveness.

The pads themselves can literally sand 

down rollers.

They can remove the rust off the bumper of your car if you wish,

but you must be careful when you use them.

These are not to lift off the dirt.

They are to score the dirt to allow the water 

the warm water to lift the dirt off from the rollers.

So you must always use these with a great deal of care so that you 

do not damage the various components.

A much milder type of scouring pad 

would be adobe pad,

which is readily available in the supermarket.

There's the milder Paco pads 

again,

a used one and a new one.

These from the PICO Corporation are milder,

and again we'll be very useful.

And here's a combination sponge and 

scouring pad.

It's commercially available from DuPont in your local 

supermarket,

so there's a number of pads.

But keep in mind that when you use these devices,

they are to help you to do a better job of cleaning.

They themselves do not do the cleaning.

It's the warm water that does the cleaning.

Okay,

as we continue,

we're going to look at some 

components and consider them 

insofar as lubrication.

Keep in mind that if we have 

problems with lubrication,

if we have something that fails,

then we're going to affect the sense of geometry.

Because the transport assembly won't be functioning quite 

at the same speed,

it will have a tendency to slow down when it slows down.

We increase development time 

types of lubricants heavy,

such as heavy Greece's.

We can also talk about such things as Vaseline.

One thing that comes to mind in the category of heavy 

is,

uh,

Oesterle gelatin,

which is very common around the hospital.

This should not be used for any reason in an automatic 

processor,

because sterile gelatin cake it'll get 

very hard.

And when this occurs,

of course,

it's no longer a lubricant.

Light lubricants such as three in 1 oil 

machine oil sewing machine oil.

You might also be used except because it is 

light.

It will migrate around inside the process,

and you have a much greater chance of getting it into the chemistry 

and onto the film.

Very light lubricant is glycerin,

which has also come into a hospital,

and this can be used with a 

small toothbrush or a small brush to coat 

those components that need to be 

lubricated.

You might use the light oil in 

motors and in bearings out of solution,

of course,

of chemical solutions.

Use the glycerin on the exposed 

gears 

in this particular process.

Er,

we can see that we have lubrication ports on the top 

and the bottom of our circulation pumps.

There's a little hole right there.

We put a drop and there's one on the bottom.

And then there's an oil ports here and here,

both ends of your main drive shaft.

There's also these gears to be 

lubricated.

These gears are not necessary to lubricate,

but if you do lubricate them,

you make it easier to remove dirt as the dirt 

builds up.

This puts an increased load or friction on the system and can 

cause damage.

Lubrication is affected by misalignment,

abrasion and wear dirt build up,

and the lubricant itself will be oxidized by heat,

and when it oxidizes,

it forms tar pitch asphalt.

It is in effect,

dirt.

Here's an indication at this point,

once his bearing is gone,

this is in a dryer takeoff mechanism to drive the 

dryer assembly.

Once it starts to wear like this,

you can put all kinds of lubricant on,

and you won't prevent further where it is already 

spent.

Be sure that your components are level.

If they're not level,

then you will increase the strain on 

the bearings and on the drive components.

And this will create heat and 

friction,

which will tear up the lubricants as well as the rest of the 

components.

Here we see oxidized developers,

and probably one of the harshest things is that the oxidized developer 

hides those components in there.

And we can't really see if,

if it's wearing the chain is wearing properly on the sprocket 

teeth.

We can only see a little indication.

We can't see if this is broken,

so it's best to keep off these old lubricants,

so we can better see the condition 

of the component.

These processors use a bronze bearing the bronze 

bearing,

as such is porous,

and the oil will migrate through it so that there is no 

need to drill a hole through that bearing in 

to facilitate lubrication 

alignment.

Look to see.

First of all,

if it's clean enough,

you'll see this look to see if the teeth of the 

sprocket are properly centered in the center of 

each of the links of the chain.

This one appears to be slightly cocked,

so you want to look at the alignment.

And sometimes this has been best done when the 

unit is running.

B,

of course,

very careful not to have any loose clothing or to be near 

enough that you might be injured by the turning 

chain and sprockets.

Here's a simple kind of lubrication device.

It's a disposable syringe,

which you will allow you to put a drop of oil exactly where you 

want it.

In this particular slide.

We can also notice that here we have plastic 

nuts on the inter stainless steel drive shafts,

and we have plastic face plates and,

uh,

fiberboard face plates,

just similar materials that will heat and expand cooling 

contract at different rates,

causing these components to get out of alignment.

So you want to be aware of this and 

then just inspect them on occasion and make sure that they 

are tight here.

We see that there's a build up of dirt on the 

chain and debris,

and that should be cleaned off 

in the dryer drive mechanism.

We have a bearing at each one of these 

locations requiring lubrication heavy lubricant 

on this right angle drive gear.

The chain that you see here is very clean.

That's the way your chain should be.

Also,

a light amount of lubricant should be applied,

but also a short period of time removed 

and a new application made so it never gets dirtier than what you 

see there.

Precautions.

To keep in mind,

you need to keep it out of the chemistry off your hands,

because if it's on your hands and lubricants,

you will touch the rollers,

and then that will touch the film.

And in any of these cases,

if we get oil on the film's lubricants on the 

films,

this will inhibit development use sparingly but 

continuously on schedule.

Now,

in discussing the processor,

we can say that this is a dirty processor,

and I show this only in case you're not sure of 

dirtiness.

We can see that there's stains in each of the tanks that 

the splash route has been removed and we have chemicals splattered 

all around here.

Incidentally,

when the developer dries,

it oxidizes brown very much the way 

the lubricants will fixer when it 

oxidizes will oxidize to a white 

here.

We want to make sure that when we clean this machine that we inspect the 

ports that you see here,

make sure they're free of crystals and debris and 

pour hot water down each one of the 

drains to make sure that they're free.

Clean up the spills and splatters.

Don't allow this debris to go this 

far from the fumes of the fixer and 

splashes this sleeve on this particular 

Kodak processor is an external bearing and it 

should never turn.

It should remain stationary,

although here we can see some indications of turning here we 

can see a spring that is corroding.

All of this is our indications of failure 

on this particular slide.

The entrance to this assembly 

would be from this side.

This is your entrance.

Cross over into the developer.

We can see stains on the fixed developer to fix 

crossover and on the fix,

the wash they're both white.

This indicates that these are fixer 

fumes.

These crossovers and any processes should never be 

interchanged because then the fixer fumes 

and crystals on the roller.

Once the film coming out of the developer hits,

it will cause a dissolving of them and we'll end up 

with some stain and contamination.

This particular roller,

all the way over here that you see is black and 

appears to be coated with black rubber is actually 

coated with gelatin and silver.

That is a roller that originally looked 

exactly like this one and certainly 

is in dirty state of a condition.

Here is another rack that we can say is dirty.

We can see the gelatin is so thick it's starting to pull 

off from the rollers and we'll play it back on the films.

Here we see the splash spilled fixer.

This problem didn't just occur.

It's been running on for some time now,

and this leads to other problems,

and we also notice that the tubing is very black.

Even the fixed line is black.

It's long overdue for being changed.

The tubing shrinks,

gets very hard and can create blockages.

This roller again is coated with gelatin and silver,

and it's very sticky,

as you can see by the lint on the 

film that lent it was the result of wiping 

this roller with a limp filled rag.

Here we see a roller that has moved it slid and slid 

down the shaft.

It should be right here.

We can also see how the chemicals and the heat has oxidized 

this stainless steel shaft.

We can see how the debris sitting in the little 

support blocks in the dryer assembly is scouring this in 

place,

keeping it Chinese.

This demarcation line here,

where it's brown and then it's a lighter shade.

This is because the drive belt only comes to this point.

It does not cover the whole gear,

so this is understanding how the equipment works and 

how it wears a bent 

rack covered with silver because of 

chemical contamination,

most likely from the use of systems cleaner,

which would cause an etching of silver and a deposit of silver in 

the developer rack and tank assembly.

This is dirty inside of a pick somatic 

process er,

a leak that has been running on for some time and has been 

ignored.

Here we see the classical build up a fixer 

debris.

The fixer,

as such is aluminum soul fight and 

needs to be removed 

wearing way sprockets,

and the story goes on,

its endless of all the various problems that we can have.

So we need to consider that this 

is a very important task these are due 

consideration so that the machine and the 

machinery is consistent to give us consistent 

radiographic quality.

Oh,

yeah.