ATTN. Canon FS4000US Owners!

[st3mpy]

Would anybody be willing to take some scaled pictures of their 35mm Filmstrip Holder? As most of you know, these things haven't been produced since 2004, and the remaining stock dried up a year or two ago.

What I would need are perpendicular shots of the Top, Sides, and Bottom of EACH HALF of the 35mm Film Strip Holder. Each picture would need to contain a scale, such as a metric ruler.

My plan is to make a CAD model and submit it to an online 3D Printing company. I'm not sure how much it would cost, but I'm hoping it will be around $20. Cost is dependent upon the volume of material required to produce the holder. I highly doubt mine will have the same exact look and feel of the Canon holder, but as long as the crucial dimensions are correct I think it will work.

IF I can get a volunteer, and IF it works, these will be available to anyone who wants one. Right now I only have plans for the Filmstrip Holder. If it does work, then maybe I'll try the Slide Mount Holder.

That said, if you find this post through Google while looking for a holder for that FS4000 you're thinking about purchasing, don't do it based on this! I have no idea if it will actually work.

 

[cabbiinc]

I'm game. The toughest part of making the holder (in my mind anyways) is getting the rack and pinion system that Canon used on this scanner down. I'd be willing to mail an actual holder (that's been pretty much gutted but the rack and pinion is still there) to get that going so long as I'd be able to buy another. There's a notch on it that tells the scanner if it's a negative or slide holder.

 

[st3mpy]

Awesome! Actually having one in my hands will be much much easier than using scaled pictures. Calipers > rulers. Depending on work load I may be able to slap in on the CMM.

Anyways, my scanner just came in yesterday, so I haven't had a whole lot of time examining it.

Questions:

By rack and pinion, do you mean the rails along the holder that are used to automatically pull the holder into the scanner?

And what do you mean by gutted? Are the rails on the holder stripped? Or the center section that actually holds the film is broken? I guess what I'm asking is, what happened to yours that makes you need another?



I've only seen basic pictures of this thing on the internet, so sorry if these are silly questions. The only filmstrip holder I've ever worked with is a Nikon FH-3. It was fairly simple, so that's why I think I can tackle this one.


And yes, if it works you'll be able to buy one. It may be more expensive than I originally thought. Possibly $40. Like I said, I won't know an exact amount until I model and measure the volume.

Regardless if it works or not, I'll send back yours. I'll PM a mailing address.

 

[cabbiinc]

When I bought my second FS4000 scanner the previous owner only had a slide mount holder, not a negative holder. His solution to the problem was to cut any of the protruding prongs that held the slides off shear with the holder itself to make a flat surface for placing a strip of negatives onto it. He then cut a piece of plastic to hold the negs on and taped that to the holder. I still have the negative and slide holders from the first scanner. When I get some spare time in the next few days I'll get the gutted holder in the mail to you and also take some pics of the other holders.

By rack and pinion I do mean the rail system that Canon used on these scanners. It's geared on the bottom of the holders and that's probably pretty crucial to the operation. If you get the gears, slots, rack and pinion, or whatever else you want to call it of the transport system down then you could get the other stuff close and it will likely work just fine. You could possibly even make it better with some Anti-Newton Ring glass but first things first, get a working film holder (or slide holder).

Dan

 

[st3mpy]

Sorry guys, I think this is going to have to go on a hiatus until the price of 3d printing drops more. I made a rough sketch of the top half of the film adapter based on some pictures I found online. It's just going to be too expensive I think.

http://www.shapeways.com/model/669593/20d939ad4810a0a80f9a62c74c461198

 

[cabbiinc]

I was just looking up your address to send you the film holder.

 

[Particular]

Sorry guys, I think this is going to have to go on a hiatus until the price of 3d printing drops more. I made a rough sketch of the top half of the film adapter based on some pictures I found online. It's just going to be too expensive I think.

http://www.shapeways.com/model/669593/20d939ad4810a0a80f9a62c74c461198

I have used Shapeways a bit. They are great, but larger objects do get pricy. I have made lots of small parts with them.
I am working on a 120 film holder to use with my Epson 4990 that I want to have lasercut from acrylic. The service I am planning to use is called Ponoko. It is much cheaper for large objects.
ponoko

 

[cabbiinc]

Looking at your design you could actually take the center cutout nearly all the way to the end. There isn't any real need to have it solid. As I stated before though the rack and pinion system would be the harder part to design.

 

[neilp]

Hi st3mpy did you try this in the end? I'm in the same situation.

 

[st3mpy]

What I ended up doing was setting up an alert on eBay to let me know when the film strip holder was available. It didn't take that long actually for one to pop up from a company in Canada that had New Old Stock.