ScanMate drum scanner DIY maintenance, troubleshooting, mods

blue channel fail

blue channel fail

Ciao Fernando, Jacek! Hi to anyone else.
As discussed with some of you I am looking for an helping hand with my Scanmate 11000. The blue channel is failing. Anything else is working ok. All I get is yellow scans.

Already done:
-any basic maintenance schedule, such as lamps, etc...
-cleaned ALL the machine: every contact has been cleaned by removing the various board and applying crc, I even removed the back panel
-inverted the optical fiber cables
-checked inside the optical module, cleaned it
-run aperture calibration routine on service program (thanks Jack), this has somehow unlocked the calibration and for some time the scanner worked fine, but then the problem is back. It seems like a bad contact somewhere..nothing that I can see under a magnifier anyway
-finally sent the PMT board to ABC Scan, they resoldered/checked here and there and sent back the part to me saying it was working fine, the PMT show good values (it was not possible for them to test it into a scanner) and pointing my attention to the spot where the Brandenburg 4479 power modules are connected to the board. Put the board back into the scanner...any change.

Now I am still here with the same issue.
I'd appreciate any suggestion on where to look before having to send the scanner to Denmark. I am almost sure this is a loose contact, just don't know exactly where to look anymore.

thank you
Andrea
 
From your description it looks like aperture mechanism doesn't work - have you opened and cleaned alu plate with apertures, greased aperture motor etc?
 
yes Jack, I've opened the aperture assembly, cleaned the plate, but how could an aperture misfunction affect just one channel..? the light is divided in the three beams after passing through the aperture, not before
 
I had yellow or blue posterized scans too before proper calibration. For me it looks like scanner can't hit the hole 🙂
 
This is actual performance of my SM11000. Looks like can be improved because it's worse than superb Minolta 5400 🙂

14806647240_155b3f159c_o.jpg
 
I finally got a chance to try out my ScanMate (original 2000dpi model) and I can't seem to get it to do anything. 🙁 My computer (Tyan Xeon board with Windows 2003 R2 and PCI Adaptec AHA-2930) recognizes the scanner, but can't find any drivers in the ColorTrio package from earlier in the thread. ColorTrio starts to load but throws an error "4511-87 cannot download firmware to the scanner because of an error in SCSI communication". Dang!
 
I remember CT not always sees the scanner while CQ can. No drivers needed. Best comunication I had is with Adaptec PCMCIA->SCSI on laptop, Windows platform.
 
There is more than DC motor wearing - I suspect encoder concentricity. Encoder shaft is 8mm dia while DC motor is 4mm dia. There wasn't sliding fit in an original design 😉

14979879576_6a433f35d7_b.jpg
 
Fernando2 said:
Which version of ColorTrio for Windows are you using?
And, is Windows2003 the 32-bit version? CT can't run properly with the 64-bit version.
Click to expand...

I'm using the version linked to earlier in the thread by jzagaja- v.2 I believe? I do have 32-bit Windows on this computer.

jzagaja said:
I remember CT not always sees the scanner while CQ can. No drivers needed. Best comunication I had is with Adaptec PCMCIA->SCSI on laptop, Windows platform.
Click to expand...

So I'm not missing drivers at least... but shame if CT won't work; no sense in shelling out for CQ to use a 2000dpi 100$ scanner 😉
 
Unfortunate. 🙁

I assume you have the SCSI chain correctly terminated and that you follow the usual golden rules of SCSI devices:

- First turn on the scanner
- Wait a few seconds
- Now turn on the PC
 
Yeah. Wait for scanner, then power on PC. SCSI ID set to 5, active terminator used. Same cabling & SCSI card that communicated with this scanner in a different computer when I first bought the scanner- when I get a chance I'll dig out the old computer (which had Windows 2000 on it) and try again.

EDIT- The non-working Windows 2003R2 system does see the scanner in the Device Manager so I think maybe ColorTrio doesn't like such a new OS? I will try with 2K and, if I have to, NT4 & 98 🙁

Do any of y'all know anything about using the serial port to communicate with these things? I saw that someone in the gallery thread did some voodoo with the console to solve a communication problem.

Thanks for the knowledge share! 🙂
 
Kate, I would strongly suggest buying a used G4 Mac - either "Gigabit Ethernet" or "Digital Audio" model - and dedicating it to the scanner alone. Also, try to find an unused/NOS/BNIB Adaptec 29160N card, a brand new SCSI cable (the shorter the better!) and a SCSI terminator with a LED indicator, if you already don't have one.
 
Kate,

I had ColorTrio v2.00 working with Windows XP 32 bit and Adaptec 2904 SCSI adapter (latest drivers for XP).
Passive terminator, shortish cable, ID 5.

No black magic needed, so maybe the culprit is 2003R2.

As for the console, jzagaja posted instructions on building a special serial cable based upon an Ethernet cable.
It allows to communicate (using a terminal emulator like TeraTerm or PuTTY) with special diagnosting routines on the scanner's firmware, mostly for PMT calibration etc.

His posts on the matter are bit sparse, you can find something here:

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134187&page=11

Fernando
 
Success with Windows 2000! Looks like I'll need to replace the halogen bulbs though- the scans come out way underexposed, just noise with a barely-recognizable image.
 
Great to know!
Shouldn't be too difficult to replace the bulbs: they're not common, but not too hard to find.

Even with new bulbs, note that it's very important to calibrate white (and start scanning) after at least 10 minutes of warming up.

Mounting fluid and sheets may affect neutrality, so my advice is to calibrate white on a zone (about 1"x1" is OK) covered by fluid&sheet.

Fernando
 
Hello All!
I bought ScanMate Plus and I have a problem with scanner. I use Windows XP and Windows 2000, Acard SCSI card, active terminator and number 2 on ( scsi channel ) but system don't see this machine. I first star scanner, then led On lights up and drum make one turn. Then i start my PC. When system is booting scanner lights up Ready led and make some drum movements. Color trio and Colorquartet do not see the connection with the scanner.
What SCSI card is best for this scanner?
 
Unfortunately no luck with Adaptec AHA-2940U 🙁
There are some reactions scanner for connection to a computer but neither the system and ColorTrio not see the scanner. I think it's broken.

Maybe i will try with old Macintosh...
 
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