Why don't the burners have higher wattage ratings? I see other brands that have units ranging from 50 watts all the way up to 130 watts.

When it comes to burner power supply wattage ratings, there are a lot of claims out there that are, in reality..... fiction. You should not let yourself be persuaded by wattage claims, as they are often produced in a dubious manner. The use of power wattage statistics are often only intended to impress the potential customer with a supposed technical prowess. Our units provide plenty of power and a consistently high standard of heat recovery. Profesional pyrographic artists use our equipment to obtain exquisite results and don't worry about irrelavent technical claims. Neither should you.

~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

Are your wood burning pens compatible with other pyrographic units ?

Yes, our pen bodies are directly compatible with most other brands. The majority of burners use an "RCA" type of jack. Colwood, Navesink and Nibs use this type of jack to connect to their pen bodies. Your pen cord should have a "female" type RCA jack that the pens plug into. (pen body has a male "RCA") There should be no difficulties in using the Optima pens with these brands.

Conversely of course, you can use compatible non-Optima pens with the Ultima and Optima units.

Although our pens are NOT compatible with Detail Master transformers we do have an adapter cord which DOES make our pens fully compatible with the Detail Master units. We do believe however, that our power supply circuit design is superior to most other brands of transformers and recommend that Optima pens be used with Optima power supplies.

~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

I use my burner at home and take it to carving classes. Its heat consistency in the lower power ranges seems to be very different from place to place. Why is this, and can this be remedied?

Most people are not aware how widely voltages can vary from building to building, and sometimes within the same building. It is not unusual to encounter power variations from 95 volts to 130 volts, depending what other electronic devices are operating on the circuit. When the burner power supply was designed, we kept this in mind.

You will find a small hold drilled in the back panel. Inside that hole, you will see what looks like a 1/8 inch long thin slot in the middle of a round white plastic piece surrounded by a black round case with metal leads. This is known as a "surface mount" potentiometer. It is used to adjust the "low end power" of the power supply. This access hole is located on the left side of the newer Ultima, or the right side of an older metal Ultima box. If you have an older machine with the small "all black" plastic box, the access hole is on the side usually facing you (opposite the 110 A/C cord). All of our power supplies provide access to the potentiometer.

To adjust your low end power setting, get a small flat screw driver that will fit in this slot (preferably insulated). Plug your smallest pen onto the pen cord, and set the front dial to its lowest setting. Also, have a piece of gourd or cardboard handy. Turn the unit so that the adjustment hole will be easily accessible to you during adjustment.

Step 1: With the screw driver in one hand, and your burning pen in the other, turn on the unit. Lightly press the side of the pen (not the sharp edge) to the gourd/cardboard.

Step 2: If it is running too hot, slowly turn the screw driver clockwise ever so slightly (the adjustment is sensitive) until you reach a point where it can just barely brown the gourd/cardboard after 2 to 4 seconds of contact.

Step 3: If there is no heat on the tip at all, or you went too far in Step 2, very slowly" rotate the screwdriver counter-clockwise. When the circuit turns back on, it will likely be too hot. Go back to Step 2 and try again.

Step 4: At this point you should have a suitable adjustment. As a test, unplug the burning pen from the cord, and plug it back in again, without shutting off the power supply unit. If there is insufficient heat on the tip you will need to go back to step 3 again. It is possible to adjust the unit into a "gray area" of the circuit threshold. In this case you would need to turn the screwdriver (very slightly) bringing up the low end power to the point where it will not shut off when changing pens.

~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

Why don't you have replaceable tips? Wouldn't it be more economical for your customers to have this option?

Although we have been asked to carry replaceable tip versions of our pens, we do not, for several reasons. A non-welded tip will inevitably have intermittent conductive properties between the nichrome tip and the brass carrier. In the long run our customers would not be satisfied. The conditions of high heat, electricity, and two dissimilar metal alloys are a poor quality combination. Although other brands have friction fitted "brass to brass" connectors, they will eventually suffer from corrosion, and eventually, have poor and intermittent conductive properties. Additionally, for what some of our competitors charge for their "replaceable tips" (not to mention what they then want for the pen body), we feel that our customers are far better off spending a little more for each "solid unit" pen and tip and own a pen that will work properly throughout its lifetime.

~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

How often should I sharpen my pen tips, and what should I use to do it with? How can I make them last longer?

Usually, only once or twice a year depending on usage. To clean off carbon from time to time, lightly buff the tips with a leather strop or small cloth buffing wheel with a small amount of polishing rouge or buffing compound. An overnight soak in oven cleaner can sometimes take off heavy carbon deposits, but be careful that you do not soak the brass or silver solder. (Read the directions for your oven cleaner to see what metals it will safely clean). To determine if your tip needs to be sharpened or "re-honed", examine your tips closely. If the edge of the tip looks rounded or there is not a well defined angle, you should probably re-sharpen the tip. Over buffing will prematurely lead to the metal "rolling over" the edge, causing your tip to get a rounded edge. To sharpen your pen, use a fine stone, (or 800 or higher grit sand paper). Sharpen your pen tips at a 30 to 35 degree angle. Do NOT sharpen them at a steeper angle, as you will then likely burn too deeply, and have problems in the painting stage of your projects. To make your tips last longer, never use sandpaper of any sort to buff off carbon. Burning at lower temperatures will vastly slow the rate of carbon build-up and keeps the tips from oxidizing. Unlike what Detail Master recommends, NEVER turn your power supply on high to "anneal" a tip. This will just lead to premature oxidation, and may actually cause damage to some of the finer tips. Put your pens back into their tubes after each use. A pen tip hitting the floor is the most common type cause of damage. I have seen our tips last over 10 years, when properly cared for!

~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~

A notice on using a 1/4" mono jack cords with an adapter jack on our burners. DON'T DO IT! The 1/4" mono phono jacks used on lesser brands get very hot to begin with, as they are a major bottleneck of power. If you also introduce an RCA to 1/4" "jack adapter" so that you can operate 1/4" mono jack type pens from our power supply, the heat generated by these components will form serious power bottlenecks which will cause the insulation inside our chassis mount jack to melt, and eventually cause a dead short, which will then melt other components. This is not a fault of the burner design. (Our jacks do not even get warm under normal conditions.) Rather, is an inherent fault of jack adapters of any sort, and particularly in 1/4" mono phono jacks. Using a replaceable tipped pen with that jack/adapter combination will cause it to fail even faster! This configuration of sub-standard components is inherently dangerous and it will void your warranty. It is liable to start melting components on or inside your power supply. If you have older pens with 1/4" mono jack pen cords permanently attached (i.e. Detail Master), we can retrofit their cords with our standard RCA jack for a nominal fee of $5.00. If you do this yourself, or have someone else do this, our warranty will not cover any damage incurred. If one small wire strand causes an intermittent short close to the power supply, it is capable of producing enough amperes to melt the solder alloy and other components. The use of "home made" or non-Optima cords is not recommended, and will void your warranty if any damage to the power supply occurs.