[filmscanners] RE: SprintScan 4000 cleaning

["Thomas Maugham" <TMaugham@yahoo.com>]

This was posted a while ago on filmscanners (not by me) and I pass it along
for information. Frankly, I'd be very leary about disassembling the carrier
mechanism as that seems a bit dicey to me.  I think the method described
below is much safer and easier to do and should be given careful
consideratin before jumping in with screwdriver in hand.

Just my 2 cents...

-------------------------------------------------

Camera repairman says: first blow off any dust possible.  Next, flick off
any dust possible with VERY light strokes with a good brush (make sure the
brush does not have anything on it already)

The cleaning is accomplished with denatured alcohol.  this is also known as
shellac thinner.  IT IS NOT RUBBING ALCOHOL.  This product is widely
available at paint and hardware stores.

Use a tissue that is wetted with the denatured alcohol.  Using NO PRESSURE
WHATSOEVER, swipe the mirror with the alcohol soaked tissue.  THE LESS THE
BETTER.  do not rub the surface.  Don't let this touch plastic parts, and
don't let it get behind the mirror.

this guy is the oldest living Leica factory trained repairman, or so he
says, and I believe him.  He was trained as a camera repairman by the Army
during WW2.  He owned a camera repair shop from the late 1940s until
recently, he is 83, and one of the most respected repairmen in the region.

-----Original Message-----
From: filmscanners_owner@halftone.co.uk
[mailto:filmscanners_owner@halftone.co.uk]On Behalf Of hinkey@seanet.com
Sent: Friday, November 15, 2002 5:13 PM
To: TMaugham@yahoo.com
Subject: [filmscanners] Re: SprintScan 4000 cleaning


Two questions:

What's the best way to determine if your mirror needs to be cleaned?

- and -

Any way you could post the steps you went through to get to the mirror,
clean it, etc. so that others that own this nice scanner won't have as
much of a learning curve as you had to go through?

Obviously I have one myself, and, at times, I've noticed some things in
the scans that made think it needs some maintenance while other times it
seems to still do an excellent job after ~2.5 years of use.

Thanks -

John Hinkey
Seattle, WA, USA

Cliff Ober wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I have just completed a successful tear down and cleaning of my
> Sprintscan 4000. The improvement in scan quality is very noticeable;
> there was a LOT of gunk on the mirror that was reducing contrast. Upon
> gaining access to the mirror, I found that cleaning it by shooting air
> down through the vertical slot in the mechanism (as has been described
> here before) will almost guarantee that the dust will be blasted off the
> mirror and onto the lens adjacent to the mirror. Not a good thing. The
> only way to really clean the mirror well is to remove the transport
> mechanism, flip it over, and remove the mirror.
>
> This is not a not a job for the faint of heart, as the disassembly
> involves a lot of screws, and great care not to break something.
> Familiarity with electronic product design practices is also an asset.
> This is a job that should be done at an antistatic workstation designed
> for electronics work, to help insure against damaging the circuitry.
>
> The entire job took me somewhere around 6 hours or so, but a fair amount
> of that was learning curve time figuring the order to remove various
> components and assemblies. I actually disassembled more of the transport
> mechanism than I needed to before learning how it all goes together. The
> next will be a lot quicker and easier.
>
> My reason for reporting all this is to let those technically competent
> individuals out there know that cleaning these devices is possible. With
> care, it can be done, and a fair amount of money and down time can be
> saved over sending the unit out to a service bureau.
>
> Cliff Ober
>
>
>
>


--
John Hinkey
Seattle, Washington
hinkey@seanet.com

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