Scanner Repair?

[j. white]

Hi,

My UMAX Powerlook 1100 scanner has taken a dive off the deep end.

I've tried borrowing a small Epson scanner for a project, but have found that image quality is nowhere near as good as with the UMAX. My old scanner is sharper and clearly has a higher DMax.

Does anyone repair such things, or is it perhaps wiser to accept the loss and look for a new machine?

A curious conundrum.

Thanks in advance for all replies!


-J.

 

[epatsellis]

J, what is it doing?

I have had my powerlook III carriage stepper motor fail, in a rather odd way (3 times!!!). My Lino Opal Ultra (also OEM'd by Umax) has had odd problems at startup lately. None of this bodes well for me, I've been a Umax supporter for years, yet I've repaired my main scanner three times now, and my ULF scanner (the Opal Ultra is a 12x17) may need attention as well. I finally cleaned aligned and relubricated everything, paying careful attention to belt tension (not being too tight) and am considering massively flocking the interior and UTA, as I only use it for scanning film anymore.


Granted, the PL III issues were mechanical, and were the failure of a part I happen to have had some equivalent spares of, and they're not exactly brand new, but since I've returned to school, finances are a big issue and it's pretty much repair or live without.

Give me an idea of what it does, many of the issues I've run across with these, about 8 years ago, I ran across 30 of these too cheaply to pass up (around $15 each) and bought every one I could get my hands on, a good cleaning and lubrication, as well as belt adjustment and the like, sold every one but a few to use for myself.

 

[j. white]

Hi Epatsellis,

Just came across your reply. Many thanks for chiming in!

There are a couple of areas of concern:

1) The mechanism sounds as though it's seizing up on startup - there's a distinct clacking sound as it does it's calibration pass. I've wondered if the lock for shipping/moving the scanner is stuck in place causing this, but have yet to open the unit up myself to see.

2) VueScan no longer recognizes the scanner as being connected when it is. I recently upgraded to Mac OS version 10.6.2 and wonder if this is the cause. VueScan does recognize an Epson model 2480 when it's connected. (The scans from this machine make me miss the UMAX scanner very much!)

-J.

 

[epatsellis]

Hi Epatsellis,

Just came across your reply. Many thanks for chiming in!

There are a couple of areas of concern:

1) The mechanism sounds as though it's seizing up on startup - there's a distinct clacking sound as it does it's calibration pass. I've wondered if the lock for shipping/moving the scanner is stuck in place causing this, but have yet to open the unit up myself to see.

Could be that or the belt that is attached to the carriage may be jumping, it's basically squished between a couple of stamped pieces of metal on a bracket, they usually need a little adjustment/tweaking. Easiest way to tell is only 4 screws away.

2) VueScan no longer recognizes the scanner as being connected when it is. I recently upgraded to Mac OS version 10.6.2 and wonder if this is the cause. VueScan does recognize an Epson model 2480 when it's connected. (The scans from this machine make me miss the UMAX scanner very much!)

-J.

Nope, it won't either. Nearly all SCSI attached devices (and typically the USB or Firewire/SCSI combo units, which have an internal USB or FW to SCSI interface) require a successfully completed initialization before it will respond to a SCSI ID request on the bus, typically done by asserting the INIT signal on the SCSI bus.

I would verify the carriage lock is released before I do anything else, that's the easiest (and most likely) repair. If that isn't it, or the belt is fine, I can make other suggestions. One thing I would do while I was in there, is clean the shaft and carriage bushing to reduce friction as much as possible. How dust gets into the scanner is beyond me, but everyone I've ever worked on, without fail has needed a good cleaning. (the shaft removes from the rear, by removing a single screw and little metal bracket, you should be able to find it an figure it out, it's pretty obvious)

 

[j. white]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for such a detailed response!

It looks like I've now got a nice project for the long weekend. Will report back with my findings.

-J.

 

[j. white]

Success! The PowerLook 1100 is back in business.

Thank you, Epatsellis for offering the encouragement needed to crack open the case. There was a loose piece that prevented the plastic lock knob from engaging the metal carriage lock. I also discovered that the transparency adapter was the cause of the electronic startup fault. It is kaput. However this is little loss to me. I've used it just once and to be honest wasn't impressed with the results.

You're right about dust too - its ability to get everywhere and anywhere is truly remarkable.

Another forum success story here!

Best to all,


-J.

 

[epatsellis]

Before you discard the UTA, check to be sure that it's unlocked as well. With a piece of double matte drafting mylar above a negative, it does a very good job with C41 negs.

 

[j. white]

The UTA stays even if I can't revive it! I bought from the early production run of this scanner and UMAX offered it with the UTA instead of the standard lid.

Good to know some of the tricks for getting the most from this machine. Having nearly lost it I realize just how well it's served me over the years.


-J.