ScanMate drum scanner DIY maintenance, troubleshooting, mods

[pkr1979]

Hi all – I'm working on a ScanMate 11000 drum scanner and running into a problem when attempting the Z-focus test from the service menu.

When I select Z (Find focus automatically), the scanner responds with:

Seeking aperture 3 at position 457
Done
Waiting for drum to settle, with integrator enabled.
Drum speed is ok.
StartData : 160
Filling palette 0

At this point:

• The scanner hangs indefinitely
• The drum does not move up to the scanning/focus position
• No audible focus movement happens
• The service prompt >> does not return
• I have to power-cycle the scanner to regain control

I'm using Tera Term (also tested PuTTY) via USB-serial on a Win XP machine, 9600 8N1, flow control set to none. All other service functions work.

What I suspect:
It seems the scanner expects the drum to already be in scanning position before running Z, but it doesn't move automatically. Possibly it's waiting for a signal from the PMTs or a reflection it never receives because the drum is too low.

I can move the drum using option 1 in the menu (Z/P/L), but not after Z has been triggered – it appears locked. Unfortunately, the lid can't be opened while the scanner is in service mode, so I can't insert a scan target once Z has started.

Additional context:

• Lamps do turn on when Z is triggered
• Focus calibration in ColorQuartet has previously worked fine
• No ERROR light has ever flashed
• Running a white balance calibration (via ColorQuartet) did update PMT gain values from 255/255/255 to more realistic ones for most apertures – so it seems some internal adjustments are working correctly

Questions:

1. Is this Z-hang behavior normal? Should the drum be moved manually before calling Z?
2. Could this be a firmware or software quirk in this version of the service menu?
3. Has anyone seen this behavior before – and is there a known fix or workaround?

Any insight or tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

[pkr1979]

Just a quick update: I’ve now successfully performed both focus and white calibration using ColorQuartet. The scanner behaves as expected in that environment – the drum lifts, the focus mechanism engages, and the lamp operates normally. White calibration no longer fails, and the PMTGain values now appear correct across all apertures, except for Gain constants aperture 6-9 still at 16. PMTGains are all fine.

This leads me to believe that the hardware (lamp, sensors, focus motor, and optics) is functioning properly, and that the issue is somehow limited to the behavior of the scanner when controlled through the service program. Can it be an issue that I am doing this using PuTTY for instance?

If anyone has seen similar behavior – where ColorQuartet works fine, but certain service mode functions like the Z-test (focus calibration) hang or appear to stall – I’d be grateful for any insight.

 

[pkr1979]

I actually figured it out - I needed to run 1 and place it in position Z before running command Z.

 

[pkr1979]

I'm still getting pretty persistent White Calibration failure though, using both ColorTrio/ColorQuartet software.

The failure seem to be caused by a persistent Red Channel analog PMTGain error on the smallest aperture. I manually set the Red PMTGain for the smallest aperture to 220. However, Color Quartet seems to ignore this stored value and forces the gain back to 255, which I assume fails the white calibration?

Any ideas on how to sort this?

 

[pkr1979]

So i adjusted the red channels PMT Gain for aperture 0 to 220 (commando 2), and an aperture calibration (commando 9) to make sure aperture 0 was were it was supposed to be. White calibration successful. I checked the log and it had kept the 220 input. I calibrated again and it was successful once more, but now the software had the adjusted the pmt gain for the red channel to 253. This seems to be a good solution for now though so that I dont have to start messing around with the aperture blades.