Nikon SF-200 feeder trouble
Phil Erickson
I'm pursuing a project common to many of you out there: massive family
slide scans for relatives far and wide. I went for the best thing I
could afford about 2 months ago (before the new Nikon scanner
announcements): Nikon LS-4000 + SF-200(s) slide feeder.
And surprise! I'm having massive problems with the SF-200. A casual
Google search has comforted me that I'm not alone.
After scanning a grand total of 7 slides (wahoo), the SF-200 no longer
works. The symptoms: LS-4000 powered off, SF-200 inserted. Power on
the LS-4000. It makes its usual nasty grinding sounds, and the green
LED on the SF-200 blinks slowly. However, nothing happens to the
feeder at all (i.e. no motion), and eventually I get a fast blink for
a bit and then a steady light. This is scanner-ese for "this
attachment is not working".
A subsequent try using the Nikon feed utility tells me that there is
no SF-200 attached. This is using NikonScan 3.1.2 package - VueScan
tells me that the scanner is 'not ready'. The other supplied LS-4000
attachments (one-slide feeder, strip feeder) work just fine as does
the scanner.
I have repeated the power on-off cycle a number of times to no avail.
I even noticed that you can see the toothed belt inside the SF-200 by
looking inside the slot in the teflon white slide guide, but on
powerup, nothing at all moves in there.
Has anyone got any good ideas? I'm pretty sure the scanner is
supposed to try moving the carriage when it powers up. This has all
the hallmarks of a dead DC motor to me, but maybe some other person
has a better suggestion. It's off to the Nikon repair facility if I
don't get any better ideas.
Thanks to all,
Phil Erickson
p...@haystack.mit.edu
PS: I heartily share the opinion that Nikon should be mighty
embarrassed to charge this much for a cheeseball, crude hunk of
plastic. Were it not almost the only game in town this side of $5K,
I'd ditch this like a hot potato. 2000+ slides are telling me
otherwise.
degrub
tonight. Sometimes the connection doesn't quite make inside if the
feeder is slightly out of alignment or not completely in.My feeder
touches on both sides - normal top and bottom on the scanner. BTW, since
you didn't mention it, i'll ask - the scanner is on it's side and on a
flat hard surface ?
Frank
UrbanVoyeur
message that no SF-200 was attached.
Solution?
I had not pressed the SF-200 all the way into the LS-4000. There should be
no gap between the curved face of the 4000 and the back of the SF-200. When
it is brand new it is a tight fit and may take a little extra pressure to
fully engage the connections.
And yes the SF-200 is crude and looks overpriced. but it does work and I
suppose the process is justified considering the limited production run.
J
"Phil Erickson" <p...@haystack.mit.edu> wrote in message
news:fc0a10f.0311...@posting.google.com...
Phil Erickson
> I had a similar problem when I first set up my SF-200. I kept getting a
> message that no SF-200 was attached.
>
> Solution?
>
> I had not pressed the SF-200 all the way into the LS-4000. There should be
> no gap between the curved face of the 4000 and the back of the SF-200. When
> it is brand new it is a tight fit and may take a little extra pressure to
> fully engage the connections.
Hi all,
For the record: the suggestion above is what did it. So if any of
you are having intermittent problems with the SF-200, try making sure
the connector is seated properly. The problem can be very
frustrating, since pushing in the connector partially makes the front
LED work fine (blinks when you start it up, etc.), so you THINK it's
connected. But it isn't - specifically, those pins which drive the
motor and microswitch assemblies aren't connected! You really have to
make sure that the thing is seated all the way in.
By the way, for those who really want to debug the feed attachment
on its own, the removal of 6 Phillips head screws (and a bit of prying
on the front plate of the housing which has the LED) will expose the
feed internals. You will see that it's a very simple tractor belt
mechanism with two microswitches and a DC motor. The DC motor is a 5V
one which can be easily benchtested at the connector level (70 mA
current when motor is running, about 140 mA when the motor is at
either stop), as can the microswitches. Useful if you want to figure
out if the SF-200 attachment itself is working.
Standard disclaimer: opening the unit up as in the previous
paragraph will void your warranty and may break it if you don't know
what you're doing.
Thanks for the replies!
cheers
Phil Erickson
p...@haystack.mit.edu
ThomasH
>
> "UrbanVoyeur" <nos...@nospam.com> wrote in message news:<xtexb.4154$785....@nwrddc01.gnilink.net>...
> > I had a similar problem when I first set up my SF-200. I kept getting a
> > message that no SF-200 was attached.
> >
> > Solution?
> >
> > I had not pressed the SF-200 all the way into the LS-4000. There should be
> > no gap between the curved face of the 4000 and the back of the SF-200. When
> > it is brand new it is a tight fit and may take a little extra pressure to
> > fully engage the connections.
>
> Hi all,
>
> For the record: the suggestion above is what did it. So if any of
> you are having intermittent problems with the SF-200, try making sure
> the connector is seated properly. The problem can be very
> frustrating, since pushing in the connector partially makes the front
> LED work fine (blinks when you start it up, etc.), so you THINK it's
> connected. But it isn't - specifically, those pins which drive the
> motor and microswitch assemblies aren't connected! You really have to
> make sure that the thing is seated all the way in.
You should hear an audible 'click' as the SF200 or SA30 adapter
will be inserted (you may encounter identical problem with SA30/SA21).
If necessary, hold the scanner with one hand and press gently but
firmly the adapter all way in.
Thomas
Dave Palmer
> Hi all you experts out there,
>
> I'm pursuing a project common to many of you out there: massive family
> slide scans for relatives far and wide. I went for the best thing I
> could afford about 2 months ago (before the new Nikon scanner
> announcements): Nikon LS-4000 + SF-200(s) slide feeder.
>
> And surprise! I'm having massive problems with the SF-200. A casual
> Google search has comforted me that I'm not alone.
I had 'similar' troubles.
The stalled feed mechanism, no feeding, etc.
I had to use the Nikon utility to back up slides and to forward feed
slides.
Initially, until I cleaned up my slides, this happened often.
Vuescan would not operate unless I used the Nikon Utility, and in some
cases I had to use the Nikon scan program itself.
Now, having used an old credit card to adjust the width of the SF200
throat, and having learned to not fill the SF 200 to capacity, and
having learned to load the slides with the word Kodachrome upright and
readable to me, my slide feeding troubles have all but vanished.
I hope this works for you!
Dave