x-ray machine

Re: x-ray machine

Gerry Henry — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 13:17:37 GMT

Speak to Steve at Veterinary X rays; good advice and good kit. Re digiatl the new fuji Prima is less than 15k and you get a lot of extras for that. Having gone digital I wouldn't go back to 'wet' if you paid me.

Re: x-ray machine

Anthony Todd — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:54:48 GMT

[quote user="Alan Tevendale"]If I remember correctly when I costed it all in we ended up saving £50/month after going digital[/quote]

Roughly how many exposures per year??

Re: x-ray machine

Rob Davis — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 14:04:00 GMT

[quote user="robloxley"]With such a good warranty either it's so flaky that nobody in their right mind would but it without such a warranty, or it's so robust that they know they hardly every have to fix them. I'd guess the latter![/quote]

The bloke I spoke to did say that he would be very surprised if we needed to use the warranty, but it pays to be sceptical about information from sellers...

Re: x-ray machine

Rob Loxley — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 13:59:58 GMT

[quote user="Rob Davis"]It comes with a 5 year unconditional parts and labour warranty where most of the others only come with 2 years.[/quote]

With such a good warranty either it's so flaky that nobody in their right mind would but it without such a warranty, or it's so robust that they know they hardly every have to fix them. I'd guess the latter!

Re: x-ray machine

Alan Tevendale — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 11:51:34 GMT

[quote user="Rob Davis"]

I have to admit that I have no idea what we are currently spending on chemicals, film and processor servicing - perhaps I should dig out the figures and look at it more carefully - I would obviously be delighted if I could justify going digital!

[/quote]

If I remember correctly when I costed it all in we ended up saving £50/month after going digital

Re: x-ray machine

Mark Hedberg — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 11:27:06 GMT

Good luck! :) Digital systems are getting cheaper and cheaper. BSAVA congress is just over, might be a few congress deals going on. Plus it's a recession year so a lot of equipment companies want to make a sale.

Re: x-ray machine

Rob Davis — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 10:16:21 GMT

Re: x-ray machine

Mark Hedberg — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 09:15:43 GMT

If you charge 100 per xray, pretend 50 of that is the anesthetic or sedation. Then the other 50 is your xray charge. 50 x 335 is 16,750. (insert your own figures here, of course. ) Subtract your chemical cost (no more developer and disposal) and then digital starts paying for itself surprisingly quickly.

In fact, if your main practice is going digital it actually makes even less sense to maintain a duplicate system of older technology, especially in a branch surgery with fewer staff than a main branch. :) It can even be marketed as a strong selling point - how many practices are so dedicated that even their branch surgeries are digital?

Re: x-ray machine

Rob Davis — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 08:54:15 GMT

[quote user="Mark Hedberg"]This is your big chance to go digital! No chemicals, faster processing. :)[/quote]

Unfortunately we would still need a new tube head, so that is a separate decision (shame it's not the processor which has died!). We are about to go digital at our main surgery, but I'm not sure that I can justify it here.

In the last 12 months we have charged for 335 exposures (undoubtably we have taken more than this...), and I'm not sure that at this level I can justify going digital.

Our main surgery has an ultrapower 100 from veterinary x-rays which seems to be a good machine, though it is more expensive that some of the competitors. It comes with a 5 year unconditional parts and labour warranty where most of the others only come with 2 years. The list price is £7950.

Has anybody had expensive repairs required in the first 5 years (in other words, does the 5 year warranty justify the higher initial cost?).

Re: x-ray machine

Anthony Todd — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 18:49:51 GMT

Yeah, first question:

How many films are you exposing per year? [divide the interest on your digital loan by the number of exposures....]

then:

How many need a high-powered machine to get a diagnostic X-ray?

Fast screens can make such a difference, like halving or quartering the exposure time.....

and get the vets to make an exposure chart and not use 35x43 film to check their way out exposures!!!!

Re: x-ray machine

Julian Earl — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 18:43:04 GMT

My old system seems to be working well although a recent overhaul has allowed us to reduce Kvs by 10 for just about all exposures. Anyway, how much better is a digital system than a functional conventional machine? Any cost-benefits?

Re: x-ray machine

Alan Tevendale — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 18:25:14 GMT

Yeah fair point you usually need a xray tube to get a good picture.

The frightening point for me was exactly how much a conventional system was costing us (including disposal of films, developer etc). So actually even getting a digital system on HP actually worked out cheaper than staying where we had been. That's before you actually start to cost in the time saving involved.

Re: x-ray machine

Rob Loxley — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 17:57:01 GMT

[quote user="Mark Hedberg"]This is your big chance to go digital! No chemicals, faster processing. :)[/quote]

If the xray tube has died a digital capture system will be fairly hard pushed to get any images

What's the budget - ex NHS machines will give high power at low cost, but check if it needs 3 phase and it isn't also too uneconomical to fix. I'd suggest investing in a floating table, but if you can easily move the head then this may not be needed. We have a 6kW (150mA) Nova unit from Celtic SMR which seems to be a good workhorse.

Re: x-ray machine

Alan Tevendale — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 17:44:46 GMT

We went digital around 15 months ago. One of the best moves we made in years. Much faster and easier. We went for a Kodak CR system from BCF. It was brought on by our old x-ray machine dying. Made us look at exactly what we were spending or more accurately - wasting on using a traditional system.

Re: x-ray machine

Mark Hedberg — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 16:42:01 GMT

This is your big chance to go digital! No chemicals, faster processing. :)