ScanMate drum scanner DIY maintenance, troubleshooting, mods

CATASTHROPE.

The drum was not properly installed I guess. I scanned a film. After it was finished, when it was coming back to its place, almost at the end, the drum went out of its socket and moved around a couple of times. Now the sannner starts and goes to ready, but when i try to lock it, it starts and almost at the end it stops in a piiiiiiiiiiii endless sound and the locked light doesnt stop blinking. At this point, I turn it of because i am afraid the motor will burn.
I start it again and exactly the same behaviour.

Can someone give me a hand? There is no obvious damage in the scanner. I guess the previous banding is related with the drum bein slightly loose...

Best regards: David
 
First open the back and unplug/plug ribbon cable. Check lamps cables - stripes on scans are often lamp flickering especially in SM1000 where cables are not clamped with bulb contacts and corrosion occurs.
 
David, can you preform a preview scan without trying to lock and confirm everything else is OK? Do this without mounting a drum.

If so, the problem is either with something manually blocking the scanner (open left cover and visually check) or the lock home position needs to be set again.

Is the drum OK? The scanner should be fixable but make sure you don't try to rush anything.
 
Me too I would open the left cover, remove the motor cover if any (can't remember) so that the motor and encoder assembly is exposed, then check for any mechanical obstacle to the movement of the assembly. Check each spindle and the gasket at the left end of the spindles, this was the culprit when I had similar issue with drum not going fully left to locking position. There is a rubber inner part in the gasket that can sometimes grip to the spindle and make it impossible for the assembly to end its run.
It seems that your drum sprocket is not going left enough, must be almost flush with the black frame with the buttons.
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I am not at the studio at the moment, and it is 22:00 here in Iceland. I will perform the preview Netsoft2k commented tomorrow morning. The scanner shows no visible damage inside. The drum is free of any damage too. That is what i dont really understand. Anyway, perhaps some part i didnt notice went out of its place and is blocking the scanner. The code reader looks perfect aswell. I have to find out how to open the left cover, because i havent find out how to do it at the field service manual.

Another thing i want to comment. While the scanner was working I tried attaching the drum as Netsoft2k told me to and as it shows in the service manual and I am now sure that every time I put new film the preview has the black line in a different place.

I will do what Jack said regarding to the banding if i manage to fix the scanner and if the banding comes back. Which ribbon cable are we talking about?

Keep you updated. Thanks a lot for your kind help.

David
 
weppo said:
Thanks for the answer!

-Another question: What is the best way so scan B/W with CQ? I had very cool results scanning color negative as slide (16 bit tiff) and then inverting in Color Perfect (i will post some soon), but i am not sure how to scan B/W properly.

-And another: Does CQ always assign srgb profile? I though it was possible to assign adobeRGB or even prophotoRGB.

-And last for today: Every time I mount the drum and do preview, the black line is located in a different place inside the preview screen. Is this some kind of malfunction? Something i can do about it?

Thanks a million: David

Bonus: Some website I can host pictures to be able to add them to my posts at this forum?
Click to expand...


Use ColorTrio software. Scan with gamma 1 ( for Colorperfect ) or gamma 2.2. In Photoshop convert file from 8bit to 16 bit and use Color perfect.
I use Silverfast HDR for negative work. Scan in ColorTrio gamma 2.2, Photoshop 8bit to 16 bit convert and save 16 bit tiff without any color profile. I get wide gamut file and high sharpness.

Alternatively use ColorQuartet, scan and save in Raw 8bit mode. Then Photoshop, 8bit to 16 bit convert and start editing in Colorperfect or other software.
 
I have removed the left cover and checked around. Cant see anything. The scanner does preview without problems.

I uploaded few photos (sorry for the quality, my phone camera is quite lame).
The part 2 shows an spring, but it doesn't move at all. The part 1 can move without forcing it if you just use your fingers.

15050105_719217321565028_622809255_n by david barreiro, on Flickr

I did something (not sure what) and the lock worked twice. After that, I ressasembled the whole thing and the next time y tried, it was again piiiiiiip...
Not sure what to do next.

Best regards: David
 
When you try to block the scanner, it gets blocked before (or after) the line that marks the alignment of the drum is in its right position. (the little white mark with which yo have to align the one in the drum with so you know it is properly assembled).

Best regards: David
 
Check for these two things.
1. If I were to guess, there should be a switch that tells when the drum in the lock position so it stops the drum from moving back any further. Can you see anything like this? I will try to look at my scanner and see if I can see anything.

2. The #2 pin is what locks into the drum and stops it from rotating in the drum lock position. Because I know how the drum locks, I would expect this pin to be spring loaded and you should be able to push it in. If it is not doing this, that is likely your problem but I will need to confirm with my scanner or someone else can confirm.

Could it be that your drum was in lock position is was trying to spin which may have jammed the #2 (in your pic) pin and it's no longer moving back and forth smoothly? Try to oil it and manually move it back and forth until it's smooth and see if that resolves your issue. Also check on the back of the drum assembly if anything is blocking anything there.

Goodluck!

Pali
 
Part 2 doesn't have to move, its point enters a cavity behind the sprocket to keep it from spinning in locked position.
Not sure about part 1, while you have it open you could check if that part is misplaced.
 
After i did the piiiii i turned it of. Now the dot was not in the right possition. I tried to mount the drum just to see if it was straight, if there was any deviance in the axis as yesterday the drum went loose. When i tried to install the drum, without forcing, just applying a bit of force, at some point the assembly got loose and started spinning freely. At this point, it turned it until it got to the right position (where the dot tells you where to when the drum is correctly mounted), where it got slightly blocked, but as soon as i tried to assemble the drum, it started turning again without offering much resistance. Once it reached again the right position (to mount the drum) i stoped trying. At this point, with the dot in the right position in the assembly, but without the blockage that allows you to mount the drum (too weak, it starts turning again if you apply a little force to it), i started the scanner, which went into READY position. Then i pressed the lock button and it worked fine (it blocked) but if i try to set the drum, it will turn after applying some force (very little). I turned it again until it was again in mounting position. I stoped trying and removed the drum. I pressed the block button to unblock the drum. Performed a preview without drum. Pressed the lock button again and the thing went again crazy... Does this mean anything to you?
 
Ok. I put a piece of paper and i can confirm that, when the drum gets to the piii position and i turn it off, part 2 is firmly holding the paper against the back of the drum assembly.
 
I found the problem! Actually, piece 2 is supposed to move freely with the spring bringing it back to place. I took it apart and the bar was bent and blocked inside! Took i out, few hammer light hits with a fabric on the bar not to mark ir, and it moves freely again. I put everything back and now it works perfectly!!!!
I dont know how this happened. I am going to perform a scan to see if something else went wrong yesterday when the drum went loose inside and got out of its place.
I still have the banding issue to deal with.
By the way, I have tried convertin to adobe rgb before invertin in color perfect, and i say the colors being way, way better than before (everything i posted here was done in srgb), but the shadows are way worst, with less detail, and i dont really know how to fix it without generatig a lot of weird blue pixels. Any idea?
Keep you updated!
Thanks everyone for the kind help: David
 
Here is the banding. Don't mind the color. I didn't do anything, to tired for today.

30684058940_8ac402a3e9_h.jpg
[/url]poste2 by david barreiro, on Flickr[/IMG]

Best regards: David
 
David,

Banding is because of the bulb contacts as Jack mentioned. One of my SM5K units came with really horrible connector (it was basically wires that went straight into the back of the bulb) that no matter how much I cleaned, the banding was always visible. I eventually gave up and replace the bulb connector with new Mini BI-Pin holder from Amazon. Here is a link to the exact ones I replaced it with and it's been more than a year and I haven't had to clean the contacts since.

http://a.co/0KmWEl5

For temporary fix, you may want to cut the wire and solder them on to the bulb pins. Make sure you also start with a new bulb to rule out bulb as an issue.

Pali
 
weppo said:
I found the problem! Actually, piece 2 is supposed to move freely with the spring bringing it back to place. I took it apart and the bar was bent and blocked inside! Took i out, few hammer light hits with a fabric on the bar not to mark ir, and it moves freely again. I put everything back and now it works perfectly!!!!
I dont know how this happened. I am going to perform a scan to see if something else went wrong yesterday when the drum went loose inside and got out of its place.
I still have the banding issue to deal with.
By the way, I have tried convertin to adobe rgb before invertin in color perfect, and i say the colors being way, way better than before (everything i posted here was done in srgb), but the shadows are way worst, with less detail, and i dont really know how to fix it without generatig a lot of weird blue pixels. Any idea?
Keep you updated!
Thanks everyone for the kind help: David
Click to expand...

Never ever use any color profile if you working with color negative. This is wrong path. For inverting color negative, you must have wide gamut raw file. Only when you saving after post processing you must convert to color profile.

For fixing banding, you must clean all light bulbs electric connections.
 
meloV8 said:
Never ever use any color profile if you working with color negative. This is wrong path.
Click to expand...

I do this with all of my scans and after exhaustive testing, I know that it produces reliable and quality scans. If you want to take the guesswork out, you have to calibrate and color calibration requires careful profiling.

I am sure everyone chooses the path that works best for them and yours may be great for you. I just wanted to chime in and say that suggesting using color profile is the wrong path to a new user is too strong of a suggestion.

I would say, try Raw and try Tiff (after profiling in CQScan) and see what works best for you. One thing for sure, always work in 16 BIT and either Adobe RBG or ProPhoto RGB in Photoshop and ColorPerfect because ColorPerfect will thank you if you do.
 
Color Calibration and profiling is only for scanning slide film, not for color negatives. Just read carefully instruction from ColorPerfect. This is the same as Silverfast HDR scanning mode and Vuescan Raw scan. If You work in different way, You simply doing this in wrong way.

http://www.colorperfect.com/scanning-slides-and-negatives/scans/Howtek/ScanMate/ColorQuartet/

Unfortunately Raw 16 bit not working with Scanmate 3000/4000/5000, so i use ColorTrio because CT give me raw file without any profile and possibility of gamma correction.

Just try 🙂
 
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