ScanMate drum scanner DIY maintenance, troubleshooting, mods

Kamph said:
The Tango must be the perfect scanner for slides! Negative films are so good these days that I hardly shoot anything else, so I guess I can live with the SM's lesser Dmax. In fact, the SM might be the better scanner for negatives due to it's higher resolution and RAW output. Do you see any difference between the two when scanning negatives (besides resolution that is)?

How much did you pay for the new motor?
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I wanted to run a few tests before I responded to this but what I am seeing is the Tango and Scanmates both produce excellent negative scans for use with Colorperfect. For now, my Scanmate 11000 is producing scans that require zero to very little color correction in Colorperfect but Tango is producing slightly cool negative scans. I am sure this is something that I can tweak with better color calibration but I haven't been able to do so just yet. Will post some comparative scans once I can say that Tango is in good calibrated state.

The DC Motor was a combined sale with SM11K board modification for stripes in shadows. I paid 500 EUR for the board modification and new old-stock DC motor.

BTW, I was told that I should still see very faint stripes in the shadows but my unit is showing zero trace of it. I did the aluminum foil test and there is no sign of the stripes. I wonder if the engineer at abc-scan has figured out a better method for modifying the board.

Sample Aluminum Foil Test TIFF at 8000 DPI

meloV8 said:
Pali, Primescan 5500dpi scan of 6x7 takes about 45min on Silverfast... 🙂
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I just made a scan again yesterday and timed it again. 5000 DPI took ~8.5 minutes again. I wonder why Primescan which is pretty much the same as a Tango at 55000dpi is so much slower. My guess would be that it has something to do with Silverfast vs. the scanner itself.

onnect17 said:
Thanks Pali for the comparison. Very good reference info.

I am curious about the aperture control in the SM11K. If any, could you scan the target using an aperture close to 10 microns at 11'000 dpi? How it compares to the results from the Tango?
Thanks again!
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You are welcome! It's very easy to change the aperture in SM11K but I don't know which aperture is closest to 10 microns. I tried to google for this information but didn't' find anything other than the smallest aperture. Does anyone know the aperture sizes for SM5K and SM11K?

Nagya, Congrats! Glad that you found a drum. Happy Scanning 🙂
 
Hi Pali, If ColorQuartet selects the optimal aperture by default then set the closest scanning resolution to 2540 dpi and then check which value of aperture is shown. Write the number then scan at 11000 dpi and enter manually the aperture value previously found.
 
onnect17 said:
Hi Pali, If ColorQuartet selects the optimal aperture by default then set the closest scanning resolution to 2540 dpi and then check which value of aperture is shown. Write the number then scan at 11000 dpi and enter manually the aperture value previously found.
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I don't think QC ever shows you what aperture is selected when in auto-mode. The menu simply states "auto" I believe.
 
Btw in regard to aperture. It seems to me that there is little difference between selecting "1" or "2", while "3", "4" etc. makes a huge difference. Could it be that the apeture needs calibration on my scanner?
 
That's a good tip Armando - I'll give it a try tonight.

Kamph, we may be able to see this information in the scanner messages. If you have the scanner in service mode and then enable the SCSI using the S command, the terminal window shows everything that the scanner does. I'll try this and let you know if I can see the aperture selected in the auto setting.

Not sure about the aperture setting of 1 vs 2. It doesn't hurt to calibrate apertures every few months so it may help or you may have already resolved the grain with aperture 2 so going smaller may not be providing additional benefit.

Regards,

Pali
 
Kamph said:
Btw in regard to aperture. It seems to me that there is little difference between selecting "1" or "2", while "3", "4" etc. makes a huge difference. Could it be that the apeture needs calibration on my scanner?
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Thanks! Good to know. Do you own any USAF 1951 target? If so, it could be helpful (as a reference for the forum) to post a scan of it at 11000, at each aperture 0..4
 
Black preview

Black preview

Hi, I would like to ask for help.
My preview with CQ totally black.
The lamp brand new and I made the white calibration.
Whit Colortrio working!
What could be the problem?
 

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Is there anyone using Linux? Here on Ubuntu 16.04 I can do a preview scan but transfering the scan fails: 'Error no 1467: Could not read from the scanner'

I use Wine and ColorQuartet in Win98 mode. The ScanMate is connected through a Microtech USB to SCSI DB25 converter. The SCSI ID at the Scanner is 2.

$ sudo cat /proc/scsi/scsi
Attached devices:
Host: scsi4 Channel: 00 Id: 00 Lun: 00
Vendor: ATA Model: TOSHIBA-TR150 Rev: 12.3
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 05
Host: scsi9 Channel: 00 Id: 02 Lun: 00
Vendor: Z....... Model: ScanMate scanner Rev: Sca
Type: Scanner ANSI SCSI revision: 01
 

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nagya said:
Hi, I would like to ask for help.
My preview with CQ totally black.
The lamp brand new and I made the white calibration.
Whit Colortrio working!
What could be the problem?
Click to expand...

If white calibration is successfully, then it must be a software issue. Have you tried using difference apertures? Also try scanning with file size set to 10MBs. Also double check your profile settings in CQ Scan - a corrupted ICC profile can cause pure black scans.

Good luck!

help! said:
Is there anyone using Linux? Here on Ubuntu 16.04 I can do a preview scan but transfering the scan fails: 'Error no 1467: Could not read from the scanner'

I use Wine and ColorQuartet in Win98 mode. The ScanMate is connected through a Microtech USB to SCSI DB25 converter. The SCSI ID at the Scanner is 2.

$ sudo cat /proc/scsi/scsi
Attached devices:
Host: scsi4 Channel: 00 Id: 00 Lun: 00
Vendor: ATA Model: TOSHIBA-TR150 Rev: 12.3
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 05
Host: scsi9 Channel: 00 Id: 02 Lun: 00
Vendor: Z....... Model: ScanMate scanner Rev: Sca
Type: Scanner ANSI SCSI revision: 01
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Quite amazing that you got the scanner to show on a USB converter. I have never heard anyone who got these scanners to work through USB and linux on top of it. To rule out scanner as the issue, you should see if you can get the scanner working on a Mac or Win machine over SCSI interface. Working with adapters can be extremely painful experience because you have to have the right OS and the Firmware to work.

Pali
 
I did some tests on a Windows XP notebook. ColorQuartet says I've to upgrade the scanner with the newest firmeware. The firmware is available from a download link provided by monkeyfist:http://tempppz.host-ed.me/temp/Scanner_Firmware/ScanMate%204000-5000/

Unfortunately, installing the firmeware fails. A 'Downloading firmware...' dialog appears, but nothing happens. The scanner is connected by the Microtech USB/SCSI adapter. Is there a PCMCIA/SCSI adapter that is known to be working properly?
 

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Thx for the info.

Is there a way to adjust the threaded rod that is moving the drum? The carriage of my ScanMate is bearing against the case :/
 

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Hello, looking for some help with a SM5K I'm trying to restore - the SCSI controller on the unit is not operational w/o external power to the SCSI, and even with power, it's unstable.

I'm using:
* Late 2008 MacBook Pro (intel)
* OS X 10.5.8 (runs PowerPC code using Rosetta)
* Color Quartet 5.3.1
* Ratoc FR1SX Firewire to SCSI adapter

This exact same setup is functional with another SM5K I restored, so I know it's not the computer setup.

Basically, when I turn on the SM5K, it does not go into "ready" state. However, as soon as I apply power to the Ratoc adapter, the SM5K goes into "ready" state. It's as if there's no signal being sent to the SCSI to get it into ready state. Note, with my other SM5K unit, I do not need the Ratoc power supply to function.

With power on the Ratoc, this unit passes all checks in the service program, and even goes into ready state with the S option, and is responsive to Color Quartet. However, upon doing a "preview" scan, the scanner starts spinning, attempts to start the scan, and then stops, almost like the SCSI reset itself.

I've cleaned contacts, checked connections, and inspected fuses, even F1 sitting next to/under the SCSI connector. The fuses appear "ok", and they are providing some level of resistance (measured with multimeter), but I'm not sure what ohm value they should be measuring.

I'm stumped, and can't make sense of the wiring diagrams in the service manual, which also doesn't explain any of the Test Points.

Does anyone have guidance on how troubleshoot?
 
@ sheel

Perhaps this behaviour is firmware related? My ScanMate 5000 is only in 'Ready' mode when it is connceted to my notebook. I use a Microtech USB to SCSI DB25 converter at the moment. The connection to the scanner fails when using my Ratoc USB/SCSI converter.

@ jzagaja

Thx for the information, but I've already ordered an Adaptec 1460 pcmcia card.
 
How do you guys go about cleaning the optics and with what if I may ask? 🙂

Edit: Also have you noticed better shadow performance when wet mounting?
 
help! said:
@ sheel

Perhaps this behaviour is firmware related? My ScanMate 5000 is only in 'Ready' mode when it is connceted to my notebook. I use a Microtech USB to SCSI DB25 converter at the moment. The connection to the scanner fails when using my Ratoc USB/SCSI converter.

@ jzagaja

Thx for the information, but I've already ordered an Adaptec 1460 pcmcia card.
Click to expand...

Ok I'll check the firmware. Something to note. When it's not in ready mode the service program just repeats "hello world" infinitely.
 
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