Epson "perfection" 2450 glass cleaning nightmare!
Chris S
4c, and which I did a glass-cleaning exercise on once with no problems
whatsoever.
I noticed a heck of a lot of dust on a scan of a 4x6 photo which
happened to have a lot of 'black' in it. I moved the picture around
on the glass, and the dust stayed with the glass, not the picture.
Further investigation revealed that the dust was on the underside of
the Epson 2450 glass. I lifted the lid, and did a 300 dpi scan of
'nothing' - and sure enough, you can see enough dust to turn your
stomach.
So I googled the web and found a helpful post which told me,
basically, to 'remove the two screws at the back (under the lid
holes)', lift the rear a little, pull forward a little (10cm), undo
the connector for the front panel switch, then lift off the lid ... '
Well, it turned out to be way more messy than that. I finally got
everything back together, but it was NOT pretty! I'll share my
experience for others.
1) remove the two screws at the back ... no problem; phew, this is
going to be easy...!
2) raise the rear of the top in order to be able to slide it forward a
little ... problem. The 'shipping lockdown' device that holds the
scanner head in place during shipping 'catches' on the left side of
the scanner head such that when you lift the top, the left side of the
scanner head comes with it (and presumably will crash back down if you
just keep going). So I found that I had to 'torque' the plastic body
a little, and really bend the plastic area around this 'lock', in
order to de-couple the lock from the scanner head. Messy, and risky.
I ended up doing this operation about 4 times (my first glass cleaning
attempts caused more trouble than they solved), and finally I removed
the white locking tab altogether, which made life much easier.
3) after raising the rear, pull the top forward 10cm to 'clear' three
pastic tabs at the front ... problem. In typical 'mass-produced snap
together plastic' fashion, my tabs would not pop free from their slots
easliy. Much twisting/torquing and pulling on the top was required.
Ultimately - again, after repeating this 4 times - I learned that you
really need to lift up quite a bit, and aggressively 'pull' on the top
to get it to unlock. Not a nice experience as you feel sure something
is going to break!
4) disconnect the front-panel switch from the base ... the first true
nightmare here ... there is a push-on 4-wire connector to facilitate
this. However, it was VERY tight. And the wire is so short that you
can't easily set the top down comfortably while you do this; you are
trying to hold the top with one hand, and remove this connector with
the other. Finally, I got the connector off, and ALL FOUR base pins
broke loose from the base PC card! I've been building my own PCs for
years (built at least 30), and have an electronics background, and
I've never seen such badly designed connectors! Basically, there are 4
'plain metal' pins soldered to the PC board, no retainer, no plastic
holder, no nothing - just four bare posts soldered to the board! The
twist/torque effect of removing the connector caused all four to snap
off the underlying copper track of the PC board. So now I'm faced
with figuring out a repair, which would involve tracing the PC board
to a 'good point', soldering a backside wire, creating a new male
connector ... etc etc. Luckily, the only thing this dumb-ass
connector does is a) allow you to use the 'one touch' feature and b)
turns on an LED when the scanner is scanning ... so I simply gave up
on this! Note - all this is happening while the lid is off, the inside
is exposed, and so on - and since this is a cleaning exercise, I was
hoping to pop the lid, get a long way away from the base unit, and do
my cleaning; instead, I was fussnig and faffing with the half-opened
unit for ages! EPSON should be shot for using such a poor connector!
5) OK - that's the end of the mechanical problems! Now onto cleaning.
I first tried 'windex' type ammonium-based cleaners, with paper
towels. STUPID ME! a) it streaks, and b) it depsits dust in droves
(although I have to say, it was no worse than when I started!). So
then I read that you could use alcohol, so I used 99% isopropyl
alcohol with a lint-free eyeglass cleaning cloth (getting smarter
here...) ... but the alcohol leeched some sort of dye out of the
eyeglass cleaning cloth and similarly streaked the glass!!! And of
course, none of this is at all apparent until you re-assemble the unit
and actually use/test it (glass looks real clean to naked eye...).
6) finally settled on ... windex with paper towel to do the initial
'get the gunk off' clean, followed by a DRY eyeglass cleaning cloth to
sort-of 'polish' the glass and remove dust.
7) along the way, used 'dust off', which is great, but occasionally
deposits propellant onto the glass which requires a
re-clean/re-dust/re-polish!
8) also along the way - nightmare #2 - I used too much windex, and it
'seeped under' the plastic surround. This was a real disaster...
there is a pure-white strip of material right at the 'end' of the
glass underside, right where the head rests. Each time you scan, it
'calibrates' itself by scanning this white strip. Well, with two
great big blobs of windex there, which is blue, this wreaked havoc
with my scans! Great big bands of differing color on my scans! I
forced a gap between the glass and the plastic, and 'blew' the
compressed air into this gap until this excess windex was gone - which
took 4 cans of dust off to achieve!
At the end of all this, I have a MUCH, MUCH cleaner scanner, and more
grey hairs. I can lift the lid and scan 'nothing' at 300 DPI (which
yields a pitch-black scan except for dust/crap on the glass, unless
you stick your head over the glass!) and have virually no streaks or
dust.
In retrospect, I should have gone to my local photo store and bought
proper cleaning liquids and cloths. I saw a post later that referred
to 'statx' spray cleaner - haven't found it yet.
But one poster did say - 'don't do this unless you really need to,
because you are likely to introduce more problems than you cure' -
excelent advice! When I did the same task on my HP, I had no issues
because it was an old-fashioned HP product - cost a fortune, solid as
a rock, disassembled logically and cleanly, etc. This Epson device is
your typical mass-produced crap ... which surprised me for the cost.
Any tips for materials would be welcomed - cleaning liquids, cloths,
etc - these seem pretty hard to come by!
Now to tackle negative scanning ...!
===========
Reply to cschofie at domain dot com
Change domain to attbi to reply - Thanks
Arthur Entlich
Chris S wrote:
> I bought this scanner as a replacement for my trusty old HP scanjet
> 4c, and which I did a glass-cleaning exercise on once with no problems
> whatsoever.
>
> I noticed a heck of a lot of dust on a scan of a 4x6 photo which
> happened to have a lot of 'black' in it. I moved the picture around
> on the glass, and the dust stayed with the glass, not the picture.
> Further investigation revealed that the dust was on the underside of
> the Epson 2450 glass. I lifted the lid, and did a 300 dpi scan of
> 'nothing' - and sure enough, you can see enough dust to turn your
> stomach.
>
[much of painful incidents removed]
Flatbed scanners should not be open enough to the elements to cause the
gathering of tons of junk on the undersurface of the bed. Epson has
been notorious in their flatbed scanners coming out of box with residue
and gunk on the underside of the bed, or having it soon develop afterwards.
Epson scanners otherwise provide good scans at reasonable prices, but I
suggest that people check their scanners thoroughly when they first get
them, and if they have any dirt within the scanning chamber that can
(and will!) end up on the undersurface, that you return the scanner to
the retailer or Epson for proper cleaning, or you will have a similar
nightmare that Chris writes about. Their scanners are really not
"designed" to be taken apart for cleaning, and if you start with
problems, they will only get worse.
Art
Myles
wrote:
Wow !
I was just working myself up to trying to clean my "Perfection" 1640SU
but I think I'll skip that trauma -- although from your instructions
I think the 1640 is screwed together a little differently and might be
easier .
But I hadn't thought of trying to determine how much dust was around
by doing your exercise in scanning "nothing".
I'm not too clear on this . To get a full scan of the bed I assume you
are in flatbed mode (not using the transparency adaptor). If i do this
with lid raised I get a foggy scan (using Vuescan) . Should I have a
sheet of white paper on the bed ?
Thanks
Myles
Ralf R. Radermacher
> So I googled the web and found a helpful post which told me,
> basically, to 'remove the two screws at the back (under the lid
> holes)', lift the rear a little, pull forward a little (10cm), undo
> the connector for the front panel switch, then lift off the lid ... '
>
> Well, it turned out to be way more messy than that. I finally got
> everything back together, but it was NOT pretty! I'll share my
> experience for others.
Never mind if it worked here and a number of people reported success
without any notable problems, I'll certainly think twice before ever
posting another how-to.
Lesson well taken. :-(
Ralf
--
Ralf R. Radermacher - DL9KCG - Köln/Cologne, Germany
private homepage: http://www.fotoralf.de
manual cameras and photo galleries - updated Apr. 11, 2003
Contarex - Kiev 60 - Horizon 202 - P6 mount lenses
Chris S
Radermacher) wrote:
>Chris S <csch...@nospam.attbi.com> wrote:
>
>> So I googled the web and found a helpful post which told me,
>> basically, to 'remove the two screws at the back (under the lid
>> holes)', lift the rear a little, pull forward a little (10cm), undo
>> the connector for the front panel switch, then lift off the lid ... '
>>
>> Well, it turned out to be way more messy than that. I finally got
>> everything back together, but it was NOT pretty! I'll share my
>> experience for others.
>
>Never mind if it worked here and a number of people reported success
>without any notable problems, I'll certainly think twice before ever
>posting another how-to.
>
>Lesson well taken. :-(
>
>Ralf
Hey, Ralf - don't take offense! My complaint is not with you but with
the scanner. Since these things are mass produced, I'm sure there's a
variation in how they assemble/disassemble. The fact that my 'pins'
broke off the electrical connector suggests they had a bad batch of PC
boards, for example. Your post (if it was yours!) gave me the
inspiration to start, and I'm glad I found it - I was going to rip the
thing apart anyway, so at least I knew how to go about it! Like I
posted ... ' I found a helpful post ...' - true statement! In fact,
DID I find your post? I'm not sure ... maybe your post was better?
Who knows.
I posted my experience to provide additional insight - the more you
read, the less you struggle!
Chris S
>But I hadn't thought of trying to determine how much dust was around
>by doing your exercise in scanning "nothing".
>
>I'm not too clear on this . To get a full scan of the bed I assume you
>are in flatbed mode (not using the transparency adaptor). If i do this
>with lid raised I get a foggy scan (using Vuescan) . Should I have a
>sheet of white paper on the bed ?
>
>Thanks
>
Epson twain, not Vuescan. From what I see of vuescan so far (I'm
playing with it) it may try to correct for the 'blackness'. I was in
a fairly dark room too; that may help Iif I lean over the scanner, it
picks up my head, out of focus...). And yes, flatbed mode.
I actually started scanning 'nothing' simply so I could watch the head
move from back to front- it illuminates dust rather well! Then I
noticed the preview in epson twain looked pretty true-to-life (dust,
smears, etc), so decided to kick off a real scan.
An alternative, if you can find it, is a sheet of BLACK paper -
technically should be the same but I don't know how that will work.
Good Luck!
John Eyles
> posting another how-to.
There there, Ralf ...
Yes, I had the 4 pins in the connector break off too.
But I didn't give a rat's ass, because I use VueScan,
which doesn't take advantage of the front button anyhow.
John
Arthur Entlich
thought people might appreciate Epson's official Quality Philosophy,
taken from their Japanese website.:
Keeping the customer in mind at all times, we make the quality of our
products and services our highest priority. From the quality-assurance
efforts of each employee to the quality of our company as a whole, we
devote ourselves to creating products and services that please our
customers and earn their trust.
Quality Policy
1. We will solve problems by directly observing all of our operations
and processes.
2. We will quickly complete the Plan, Do, Check & Act (PDCA) cycle in
all situations.
3. We will thoroughly analyze any failures, and establish procedures
based on that analysis, so that mistakes are never repeated.
4. We will proactively consider our customers' satisfaction so they will
genuinely prefer purchasing EPSON products and feel confident using them.
5. We will seize the opportunity presented by customer comments and
complaints to inform our decisions when designing new products.
6. We will readily report even negative information.
7. We will foster a climate in which attention is paid to even the most
commonplace events.
QUALITY PHILOSOPHY
Quality Philosophy Explanation
September 26, 2002
Quality Philosophy
Keeping the customer in mind at all times, we make the quality of our
products and services our highest priority. From the quality-assurance
efforts of each employee to the quality of our company as a whole, we
devote ourselves to creating products and services that please our
customers and earn their trust.
Quality Policy
1. We will solve problems by directly observing all of our
operations and processes.
2. We will quickly complete the Plan, Do, Check & Act (PDCA) cycle
in all situations.
3. We will thoroughly analyze any failures, and establish
procedures based on that analysis, so that mistakes are never repeated.
4. We will proactively consider our customers' satisfaction so
they will genuinely prefer purchasing EPSON products and feel confident
using them.
5. We will seize the opportunity presented by customer comments
and complaints to inform our decisions when designing new products.
6. We will readily report even negative information.
7. We will foster a climate in which attention is paid to even the
most commonplace events.
Development of the Quality Philosophy
1. Members of the Seiko Epson Group work in unison guided by the
concepts contained in the Management Philosophy, revised in 1999.
2. Most notably, we have emphasized the importance of developing
comprehensive customer service by putting ourselves in the customers'
position.
3. Under the intensely competitive market conditions of recent
years, the world's foremost companies have begun looking beyond just the
quality of their products. Many companies have experienced problems with
their management quality, some of which have been serious enough to
threaten their companies' existence. Thankfully, the awareness of these
problems by Seiko Epson has prevented any incidents from having major
ramifications. Rather than viewing serious problems as someone else's
concern, we have taken the opportunity to perform a self-examination of
our company.
4. To provide an even firmer foundation for the quality concepts
contained in the Management Philosophy, we have decided to create a new
Quality Philosophy.
5. The establishment of this Quality Philosophy is intended to
further solidify our overall quality efforts. We will use this Quality
Philosophy as one of two pillars (along with our Environmental
Philosophy, revised in 1999) of a program to achieve the state of our
company delineated in the Management Philosophy.
Ideas Embedded in the Quality Philosophy
"Keeping the customer in mind . . ."
The Quality Philosophy includes the phrase "keeping the customer in mind
. . ." to indicate that each member of the company must consider
customer satisfaction in every aspect of their duties. We should
approach our work from the customer's perspective by imagining all
possible situations in which the customer would use our products and
services. In addition, we should view all situations from a variety of
angles to successfully anticipate what problems might occur and propose
effective solutions to them. All of our efforts should make quality the
top priority so our customers can enjoy using our products and services
with absolute confidence.
". . . quality of our products and services . . ."
We recognize that the ultimate satisfaction of our customers results
from ensuring a low cost of ownership of our products and use of our
services, both before and after purchase. In addition, we must use our
valuable skills and experience to create a reasonable profit and assure
growth for the company as we develop our products and services. The very
nature of Epson's quality is informed by this dedication to customer
satisfaction and maximized use of our employee assets.
". . . devote ourselves . . ."
This describes the desire within each member to place themselves in the
customer's position and to always act with the customer's best interest
mind as we perform our duties. And because mistakes are human, we will
follow the rules and systems designed to prevent them and provide for
efficient operation of our company. In addition, it is important for
each of us to approach our job with a positive attitude and to carefully
consider every action we take. And rather than submit passively to the
established systems, each of us must actively endeavor to address
quality issues ourselves and never pass them along to the next person in
the process.
" . . . quality of our company . . ."
The quality of our company is comprised of the spirit inherent in each
of us to devote ourselves to continuous quality improvement. In making
quality our top concern, and by maintaining a climate where information
that is contrary to the customers' best interest immediately reaches the
top levels of management, we will improve the quality of our company as
a whole.
If we constantly increase our company-wide devotion to quality
improvement, we will:
1) address problems while they are still small,
2) minimize inconvenience to our customers, and
3) earn our customers' trust.
The result will be customers that are as devoted to EPSON as we are to them.
====================
Ralf R. Radermacher
> In regard to the quality control and design of the discussed scanner, I
> thought people might appreciate Epson's official Quality Philosophy,
> taken from their Japanese website.:
May I add a quote from the 2450's user manual?
"Refer all service work to a qualified technician."
Don't get me wrong: In my book, it is perfectly alright to open any
equipment, electronic or other, in one's possession. It's just plain
silly to see people complain who obviously goofed and weren't up to the
task.
Now, what is the point you're trying to make and what does Epson's
quality philosophy have to do with all this?
Besides, shouldn't you be a little more friendly with Epson? Mind you,
they don't use collimated light sources. ;-)
Chris S
design issue; another poster has posted that his pins broke. Looking
at the design, it's simply bound to fail in a good percentage of
changes - it's mechanically flawed. For about 5 cents, they could
have used a better connector and there is really no excuse. The
'qualified technician' probably has spares to corect the problem. I
could correct the problem if I felt like it, as I've been dealing with
electronics for 20+ years, but as that other poster said, I don't give
a rats ass about the front panel switch anyway!
My other main 'disassembly' issue - getting the upper body off while
wrestling with the 'shipping lock' - was just 'par for the course' in
terms of dismantling something. Since the 'how to' I found on the web
did not mention this, I thought it would be good to pass on so that
anyone else contemplating doing this would be aware in advance. At
least in my case, the shipping lock caught on the scan-head such that,
if I had just raised the top without dealing with it, the head would
have slammed back down at some point, possibly damaging the head.
Where I was clearly 'not up to the task' was in the department of
actually cleaning the glass - I was ill-prepared with materials
(cleaners and cloths) and so I posted that so that others would be
prepared. And since I totally screwed up by allowing windex to get
into the 'calibration target' area, I wanted to pass that on too -
again so that others can learn from my mistake. In regards to the
mechanical dismantling of the unit, I'd consider myself a pro at such
things.
My main motivation for posting was not to criticize the original 'how
to' but to build on it, allowing others to learn from my mistakes.
On Wed, 23 Jul 2003 12:23:24 +0200, foto...@gmx.de (Ralf R.
Radermacher) wrote:
>Arthur Entlich <artis...@shaw.ca> wrote:
>
>> In regard to the quality control and design of the discussed scanner, I
>> thought people might appreciate Epson's official Quality Philosophy,
>> taken from their Japanese website.:
>
>May I add a quote from the 2450's user manual?
>
>"Refer all service work to a qualified technician."
>
>Don't get me wrong: In my book, it is perfectly alright to open any
>equipment, electronic or other, in one's possession. It's just plain
>silly to see people complain who obviously goofed and weren't up to the
>task.
>
>Now, what is the point you're trying to make and what does Epson's
>quality philosophy have to do with all this?
>
>Besides, shouldn't you be a little more friendly with Epson? Mind you,
>they don't use collimated light sources. ;-)
>
>Ralf
===========
Ralf R. Radermacher
> The issue of the 4-pin connector is, I believe, a true quality or
> design issue; another poster has posted that his pins broke.
This kind of thing happens all the time in the industry. Even if they
got a bad batch of PCB's this isn't really an issue under normal
circumstances. Epson's own service people will simply replace this PCB
without the customer ever getting aware of anything.
This is the way modern quality management works. No-one can afford a
zero-defect policy at consumer-level prices and as long as there is a
system for dealing with and learning from any defects, then everything
is fine.
I spend my days translating instructions by manufacturers of automotive
and electronic systems telling their service people that something is
wrong with component XYZ and that they need to exchange it next time the
product comes in for service. Nothing wrong with this as long as we're
not dealing with something that's safety-relevant. Your four pins
definitely aren't.
But such QA systems are totally knocked-out if repair is attempted by
DIY enthousiasts or - especially with motorcars - backyard repair shops
who don't receive the manufacturers' service bulletins.
Now, I'm just as much of a DIY enthousiast, although also with a 20+
years practical background in electronics and radio broadcasting. Hell
knows I've lived through my share of major mess-ups including the
replacement of over 50 TTL ICs (non-socketed, of course!) on half a
dozen multi-layer PCBs after applying 100 V to the +5 V rail of my
shortwave transceiver. :-)
Still, if we insist on poking our fingers inside such stuff I think we
only have a very limited right to complain.
> At least in my case, the shipping lock caught on the scan-head such
> that, if I had just raised the top without dealing with it, the head would
> have slammed back down at some point, possibly damaging the head.
I'm still trying to figure out what exactly happened there, since my lid
comes off with just a little gentle prying to get the plastic clamps to
release. So, if you could explain this a little further I'd be glad to
include a warning in my "how-to" as I'm planning to include it on my
website.
Chris S
>> that, if I had just raised the top without dealing with it, the head would
>> have slammed back down at some point, possibly damaging the head.
>
>I'm still trying to figure out what exactly happened there, since my lid
>comes off with just a little gentle prying to get the plastic clamps to
>release. So, if you could explain this a little further I'd be glad to
>include a warning in my "how-to" as I'm planning to include it on my
>website.
>
>Ralf
Ralf - I agree with everything you say.
I've just posted a detailed 'how to' of my own, based on pictures I
took during the process, which may aid others in completing this task.
http://home.comcast.net/~cschofie/Pics/EpsonScanner/DismantlingEpson2450.htm
You can download the html doc and images, and use them freely in your
guide, or make suggestions to me for my guide. I could also email you
directly a word document that was the 'source' of this 'quick and
dirty' html + images document. I'll even give you the 'original jpegs'
that I took on my Minolta D7Hi if you want!
I'd like a lot more guidance, personally, on the actual cleaning step.
Getting glass 'clean' is no mean feat! I wear glasses, and I cannot
for the life of me get 100% streak free lenses. I can 'polish' them
with the dry microfiber cloths, which gets rid of most marks, but
yields a certain type of 'finish' haze that is very noticeable in
bright sunlight. My current approach is ... soap and water; good
rinse; then 'blow dry' with compressed air!
For email, send to chris at panties domain dot com
remove panties, and replace domain with attbi
Ralf R. Radermacher
> I've just posted a detailed 'how to' of my own, based on pictures I
> took during the process, which may aid others in completing this task.
>
> http://home.comcast.net/~cschofie/Pics/EpsonScanner/DismantlingEpson2450.htm
Brilliant! Nothing to add from this end. At least not on first glance
and after a rather busy day.
> I'd like a lot more guidance, personally, on the actual cleaning step.
> Getting glass 'clean' is no mean feat!
As long as we're dealing with uncoated glass such as that in the Epson
scanners, I still get the best results from a _quality_ window cleaning
liquid in combination with a lint-free coth. I use pieces of old linen
bedsheets which have been washed many, many times. Kitchen paper rolls
also work, and again the better varieties can make all the difference
because they're less prone to disintegrate into lots of small fibres.
It may take some testing to find an appropriate window cleaning
detergent. The cheaper ones can be quite messy. Some of them contain
additives to prevent fogging and for our purposes they do more harm than
good by leaving a kind of residue that will hardly be noticed on windows
but can be a major problem on optical glas surfaces.
Alcohol is also OK but should be used in a 3:1 dilution with distilled
water (3 parts water, 1 part alcohol). The trick here is to use the
alcohol as a detergent and the water to hold the dirt in suspension
until you can wipe it up with a piece of clean cloth or kitchen paper.
Pure alcohol evaporates before you'll have a chance to remove all the
dirt. I've learned this technique in the old days at the radio station
from a "Keith Monks" record cleaning machine. :-)
One of the best investments I've ever made is an oil-free compressor
together with an extra 25 liter pressure vessel. The compressor sits in
my basement darkroom and is used while I'm printing. The extra pressure
vessel is filled with this compressor and used upstairs for blowing dust
off my negs and glass surfaces when I'm scanning. Over the last years,
this arrangement has saved me hundreds that would otherwise have been
spent on canned air products.
So, any remaining dust particles can easily be blown away using 'real'
compressed air and without the danger of causing this awful mess
produced by canned air if you happen to spray any of the liquid from the
can onto your glass or film.
> I wear glasses, and I cannot
> for the life of me get 100% streak free lenses. I can 'polish' them
> with the dry microfiber cloths, which gets rid of most marks, but
> yields a certain type of 'finish' haze that is very noticeable in
> bright sunlight.
Now, that's another story. Here, we're dealing with coated glass and it
seems that there is a rather recent variety which is causing many people
a lot of grief. So far, I've noticed the problem with my last two
generations of no-line glasses (plastic). Similar problems have been
reported by people using multi-coated Hoya filters and there have been
long discussions about this, in the 35 mm equipment newsgroup.
I'm still at a loss with this phenomenon. Nothing really works,
including microfiber cloth, soap and water, alcohol, dishwasher
detergent, ultrasonic cleaning... you name it, I tried it. Any further
suggestions would be most welcome.
Andrew Price
Radermacher) wrote:
[---]
>One of the best investments I've ever made is an oil-free compressor
Could you recommend the brand (if it's still being manufactured)?
Chris S
small to see detail), and didn't like the layout, so I redid the whole
thing in dreamweaver.
Also added Ralf's tips regarding cleaning.
Since my site may be temporary, if anyone else cares to grab this and
host it, that would be fine by me!
Regarding eyeglasses - glad to hear I'm not the only one struggling to
clean them! I have the very latest, very expensive, progressive
lenses with all kinds of coatings and they are quite a marvel in all
ways except - how to clean! I really do find that mild soap and
water, repeated vigorous 'snaps' against my hand to shed most
droplets, and a blast of compressed air does far better than any
chemical and/or cloth I've found to date!
===========
Ralf R. Radermacher
> Could you recommend the brand (if it's still being manufactured)?
Mine is a model "Profimaster ölfrei" made by a German company named
"Schneider Drucklufttechnik"*. It's the larger version with a 25 l
pressure vessel. You get more or less the same under various names in
any large DIY chain store.
Here's a German PDF description:
http://www.schneider-druckluft.de/produkte/detailinfos/a-artikel/a199018
.html
Pity they don't show the extra pressure vessel on their website.
Basically, it's the same as the one mounted below the compressor.
Make sure that whatever you buy is clearly labelled "oil-free", i.e. it
has PTFE cylinder linings which don't require lubrication. Some people
claim you also need a water trap in the air line. While this may or may
not be the case, I've never had a problem without one.
Another important thing is the air pistol you attach to it. I urgently
recommend one of the better all-metal versions which can be disassembled
completely prior to first use in order to remove the small quantity of
grease inside. I didn't know about this and ended up with an ugly mess
on some of my negs.
Ralf
* French distributor:
KRESS FRANCE S.A.R.L.
F-68440 Habsheim (Mulhouse)
6, rue de l´artisanat
Tél. : 03 89 / 31 70 60
Fax : 03 89 / 31 70 69
con...@kressfrance.fr
Andrew Price
Radermacher) wrote:
[air compressor]
>Mine is a model "Profimaster ölfrei" made by a German company named
>"Schneider Drucklufttechnik"*. It's the larger version with a 25 l
>pressure vessel. You get more or less the same under various names in
>any large DIY chain store.
Many thanks, Ralf, very useful and much appreciated.
Bart van der Wolf
"Chris S" <myn...@see.signature.com> wrote in message
news:ac2uhv0vsjls4ktc0...@4ax.com...
SNIP
> I wear glasses, and I cannot
> for the life of me get 100% streak free lenses. I can 'polish' them
> with the dry microfiber cloths, which gets rid of most marks, but
> yields a certain type of 'finish' haze that is very noticeable in
> bright sunlight.
Assuming clean hands ;-), there are many corners and rims behind which oily
debris is accumulated. That will spread as you wipe back and forth. Scanner
glass is easier, just breathing on it and wiping does the trick for me.
Use optical grade microfiber cloth, wash it with real soap (no softener),
rinse abundently (final rinse with demineralized or distilled water) and use
damp(ish). Pre-cleaning the glass helps keeping the microfiber clean enough
for a longer period. Using chamois instead of cloth also helps.
> My current approach is ... soap and water; good
> rinse; then 'blow dry' with compressed air!
Yes, and alcohol (on the glass! otherwise it clouds your judgement) makes it
evaporate quicker.
Bart
Arthur Entlich
Ralf R. Radermacher wrote:
> Arthur Entlich <artis...@shaw.ca> wrote:
>
>
>>In regard to the quality control and design of the discussed scanner, I
>>thought people might appreciate Epson's official Quality Philosophy,
>>taken from their Japanese website.:
>
>
> May I add a quote from the 2450's user manual?
>
> "Refer all service work to a qualified technician."
I assume that doesn't means you. But some people, have a good deal of
service qualifications or experience, and may indeed be "qualified"
without being Epson trained.
>
> Don't get me wrong: In my book, it is perfectly alright to open any
> equipment, electronic or other, in one's possession. It's just plain
> silly to see people complain who obviously goofed and weren't up to the
> task.
The person was apparently well versed in working on electronic equipment
of a similar type. It would appear that the design is flawed, in that
the dust under the bed problem is a common one (do a g Google check if
you don't believe me) due to both poor control during manufacturing, and
the units being poorly sealed, and secondly, in the manner of
construction which would make the repair nearly impossible without
damaging the unit (not everyone has access to an "official Epson Service
Centre" where they may have been warned how poorly the build was, or
might simply do exchanges and make the returns into "parts units").
When a product is designed in such a manner that an average service
-knowledgeable person servicing it is likely to damage it physically
(the example was a pin connector which was very tightly connected to a
set of pins which were poorly soldered onto the circuit board and were
pulled off by several people when they attempted to separate them) that
is a type of sabotage.
>
> Now, what is the point you're trying to make and what does Epson's
> quality philosophy have to do with all this?
>
Part of quality in a product and quality control, is a build that allows
for a product to reasonably be serviced when done with reasonable care
without damage to it, and with minimal variation in the tolerances of
the build. Epson, as policy, makes their service manual difficult if
not downright impossible to get hold of. This limits the ability for a
"reasonable service person" to use anything more that their reasonable
experience and knowledge to work on the product. Soldering pins onto the
edge of a circuit board in such a manner that they are very likely to
pull off with the foil on careful removal of a connector, is not a
quality build.
> Besides, shouldn't you be a little more friendly with Epson? Mind you,
> they don't use collimated light sources. ;-)
I am an equal opportunity critic. I don't like it when products are
produced that ends up landfill because they don't last, don't work as
advertised, or can't be serviced using reasonable standard practice,
whether it is a scanner, a printer, a toaster or a car for that matter.
Art
Arthur Entlich
Ralf R. Radermacher wrote:
> I spend my days translating instructions by manufacturers of automotive
> and electronic systems telling their service people that something is
> wrong with component XYZ and that they need to exchange it next time the
> product comes in for service. Nothing wrong with this as long as we're
> not dealing with something that's safety-relevant. Your four pins
> definitely aren't.
>
There is plenty wrong with this, and the fact that you do not see it is
because you are blinded by your vested interest.
Way too many design flaws and defects in manufacture get through the
beta stages, where they should be caught. It has become standard
operating procedure these days to allow this sloppiness through. Safety
defect or not, diligent testing and design should limit this much more
than it is. The answer is not secret notifications to the "qualified
service technicians", because firstly, they often don't get to all the
"qualified" people who should have access to them, and secondly, "oh
we'll just replace it is we get haunted by it during warranty" is not an
ethical response. I am privy to some of these service notices, and in
some cases some major companies have gone as far as to suggest NOT
informing the client of the manufacturing problem and in some cases even
to CHARGE them for the repair if it is out of warranty. Today, very few
companies are ethical enough to repair an out of warranty product even
if they KNOW the product had a service defect which was only reported to
"qualified service technical personnel". And with today's 90 day
warranties on some good, the liability to the owner is almost zero.
> But such QA systems are totally knocked-out if repair is attempted by
> DIY enthousiasts or - especially with motorcars - backyard repair shops
> who don't receive the manufacturers' service bulletins.
The point is, if the same damage would be likely to occur with
"authorized" or "qualified" technical people then why shouldn't the DIY
be covered with free replacement parts as well? Simply put, a defect is
a defect whether is encountered by a "qualified" repair tech or a DIY
who is doing so from an experience or knowledge base, who isn't
"authorized" by the company. Also, manufacturers should make service
manuals and updates easily available on their websites rather than
hiding them or charging huge fees to acquire them, as most do. Much of
this really comes down to a type of tie-in (which is illegal under the
Sherman act in the US, for instance), forcing people to use certain
repair depots by making it very risky to either DIY or use non
"authorized" service people, regardless of their skill level.
I attempted to get a copy of the vacuum routing sticker (or even a
photocopy of one) from my Toyota car because when the engine was cleaned
the sticker ink dissolved (it was the ONLY thing in the engine
compartment that did so) and Toyota told me it was not available to me,
and that only dealers had access to this info! Then I called the dealer
they told me to buy the repair manual for $100 something bucks.
I ultimately did buy a copy of the Toyota Service manual from a much
less costly source, but I had to hunt on line for hours to find a list
of recalls and factory notifications of changes, and those were also
unavailable to me. In other words, if I wanted to "be sure" my car
would be repaired and serviced with Toyota's continual service bulletins
in mind, I had to go to a Toyota dealer, which has one of the more
expensive hourly shop rates in town. So, I do my own repair.
>
> Now, I'm just as much of a DIY enthousiast, although also with a 20+
> years practical background in electronics and radio broadcasting. Hell
> knows I've lived through my share of major mess-ups including the
> replacement of over 50 TTL ICs (non-socketed, of course!) on half a
> dozen multi-layer PCBs after applying 100 V to the +5 V rail of my
> shortwave transceiver. :-)
>
Sometimes "mess ups" are caused by not understanding a circuit, or
because some people facilitating repairs are ham-fisted (then again,
after seeing the job some factory repair people have done, I'm not sure
the percentages of good "qualified" techs are much different from the
general population), and I am not suggesting just anyone can go into
their equipment and expect to be able to service it with no practical
knowledge, but when a company either hides valuable information from the
public about servicing, or they simply make very poor manufacturing
decisions with the hope that the number of units that will need repair
during warranty simply won't be great enough to warrant building the
thing correctly to begin with, then that ruffles my feather a great
deal, and manufacturers should not be able to simply blame the DIYer
when the defect is at the manufacturing or design level.
> Still, if we insist on poking our fingers inside such stuff I think we
> only have a very limited right to complain.
Under the circumstances I indicated above, I completely disagree with you.
>
>
>>At least in my case, the shipping lock caught on the scan-head such
>>that, if I had just raised the top without dealing with it, the head would
>>have slammed back down at some point, possibly damaging the head.
>
>
> I'm still trying to figure out what exactly happened there, since my lid
> comes off with just a little gentle prying to get the plastic clamps to
> release. So, if you could explain this a little further I'd be glad to
> include a warning in my "how-to" as I'm planning to include it on my
> website.
It may well be very poorly held tolerances.
Art
Ralf R. Radermacher
> because you are blinded by your vested interest.
My what...????
Arthur Entlich
components or design flawed parts in the automotive industry.
If the manufacturers, engineers and designers used computer models and
properly pre-tested goods, many of these problems could be eliminated,
and then they wouldn't need as many people to write, translate or
distribute service bulletins (many of which, BTW, never get to
non-affiliated service people), creating an ironic advantage to the
dealership, which may have the inside scoop on a problem that other
which did not receive the notification. So, in some strange way, the
more unreliable (and prone to design failure) the more important it is
to use a dealer's shop, since they are more likely to have the "secret
documents).
Ralf R. Radermacher
> If the manufacturers, engineers and designers used computer models and
> properly pre-tested goods, many of these problems could be eliminated,
> and then they wouldn't need as many people to write, translate or
> distribute service bulletins
I take it that your own work is of course 100 % error-free. Have you
ever considered running seminars on being perfect?
Ed Fortmiller
glass clean on my scanner. Went out and got some KlearScreen
(http://klearscreen.com/) and it worked. Maybe not be 100% perfect but for
me it was 99.9%.
--
Ed Fortmiller | RUBBIS...@fortmiller.us | Hudson MA
*
* To avoid getting a lot of SPAM junk mail, I have altered my REPLY-TO
* address. PLEASE remove the leading "RUBBISH" from my REPLY address.
* Any Email sent to the address without removing "RUBBISH" will
* automatically be discarded without me even seeing it.
Ira Solomon
LCD cleaner.
Bart van der Wolf
"Ira Solomon" <isol...@solomonltd.com> wrote in message
news:2d27kv4t0nnviqrau...@4ax.com...
> Thanks for the tip about KlearScreen. I've been looking for a good
> LCD cleaner.
Be careful! LCDs are easy to damage if too much pressure is applied, and the
front coating is rather soft. CRT's can be even more difficult to clean, due
to the AR coating which is sometimes so vulnerable that tap water is already
too abrasive.
Bart