Clean That Scanner!

This may not be the most appropriate forum for the subject, but I think many of us here are confronted with this issue, now and then.

I've been using an Epson Perfection V700 scanner for the last a couple of years, and have been happy with the results, but over the last month or so I had a growing suspicion that the quality of the scans was deteriorating, with a certain softening of definition and a slight haziness in highlights. A close inspection of the scanner glass on the flatbed revealed a build-up of haze on the underside of the glass, apparently caused by the slow release of gases from the plastic and electronic components.

 

So, I decided to take the bull by the horns and disassemble the scanner to enable cleaning of the glass. I came across a really good web page that outlined the procedure in simple terms and without the masses of cautionary and contradictory information floating around the Net.

 

Cleaning Epson V700 Flatbed Scanner Glass

 

Removing the plastic plugs that conceal the four screws that secure the class in it's frame to the body of the scanner is the only tricky part. I used the sharp tip of a snap blade knife (I think you call them box cutters in the States), inserted firmly downwards at the wide end of the "V" as instructed, and the plugs popped out with minimal abrasion. After removal of the screws, the frame and the glass lifted off with a little jiggling, and I carefully inverted it and laid it on a sheet of A3 white art paper.

 

For cleaning I used a proprietary glass cleaner and newsprint. The spray application of the fluid immediately converted the haze into a somewhat sticky dark grey residue that took some serious polishing to remove, but having the white paper under the glass enabled me to complete the job to perfection. Reassembly was a breeze.

 

Improvement? I re-scanned a few T-Max 400 negatives I'd scanned last night, and feel like going back and scanning most of the last six months of work! I attach a sample, hopefully demonstrating the difference; same scanner settings, about 100% crop. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this build-up of haze, and dealing to it whenever I notice it reoccurring

 

Thank you Rick. Just before leaving Wa. for Hawaii, I began to notice some "fuzzy dots" on my scans from a V800. Fungi blooms! I found the same web site and the work was a piece of cake. I will try the white paper next time. Here in Hawaii, I am now looking at two small colonies under the V600 glass. The V600 is a bit more intricate, but still your advice of checking the glass is valid. Aloha, Bill

Hi Rick, my V700 must be about 6 years old or more. I have cleaned the underside of the glass about 2 years ago. One thing that concerned me at the time is that if the hazing on the glass is due to outgassing from the plastic / lubricants in the scanner them what about also cleaning the lens(es) in the scanner? I wasn't confidant that I could identify and access the optics of my V700 so I didn't go any further in the cleanup.

 

I also have a Nikon Coolscan 5000 for 35mm. Had it about 9 years now and I'm sure it must be about due for a checkup. Reluctant to send to Nikon Australia as last time it went in they didn't reassemble it correctly. The front panel wasn't installed flush with the top cover. Result was that when the film strip adapter was fitted into the machine the electrical contacts on the end of it didn't reach the socket inside the scanner. Scanner NO work!! Took about 15 mins to recognise and fix. Apparently there is a front sided mirror in the optical path which gathers dust. May have to buy one of those sensor cleaning kits for digicams and VERY GENTLY clean the mirror. No great hurry though.

martinjones said :

...if the hazing on the glass is due to outgassing from the plastic / lubricants in the scanner them what about also cleaning the lens(es) in the scanner?

 

Yes, that thought crossed my mind too, but like you I really didn't want to start poking around in uncharted territory. I might try casting around to see if there's information out there regarding this. There's not much in the way of service available for the scanners down here in New Zealand; after all "it's old now and you really should upgrade"...

martinjones said :

 

Yes, that thought crossed my mind too, but like you I really didn't want to start poking around in uncharted territory. I might try casting around to see if there's information out there regarding this. There's not much in the way of service available for the scanners down here in New Zealand; after all "it's old now and you really should upgrade"...

Yes, Rick, I have a V700 - does an admirable job. I haven't felt moved to go the whole way on cleaning the the inside glass; though will no doubt be getting around to having to do it sometime. Thanks for the advice. My darling spouse has a take on your salesman's spiel: 'you're getting old now and I should really upgrade'. So it goes. I wonder how long epson will continue producing these marvels of technology. It's not just the outgassing of lubricants I worry about, but the inevitable degradation of the rubber drive belts, plastic, etc. Regards, Arthur (apiarist1)

I've noticed this haze on my Epson V500, but have been reluctant to clean... I recall disassembling an earlier model, and the body halves were snapfitted. I broke a part of it taking apart. Grrrr!! I'm not really all-thumbs... but laziness and fear of un-chartered territory do have their price.

 

Mine is quite visible...Your before and after scans are incentive enough to get off my ass!!

The big problem with opening up scanners for cleaning is excluding dust. When I did mine in the house there was visible dust under the glass upon reassembly. I did it again outside on a damp hopefully dust free day, with much better results.

Great suggestion Rick. I think I'll take mine into my dust-free lab (the bathtub) and give it a go.

The service manual for one of the V series is available:

 

Elektrotanya for electronics experts

Wow. My V700 is many years old and never been cleaned! Thanks for the tip

I have a Coolscan III that I bought cheap(it's SCSI, so no one wants them) as a back-up/secondary scanner. Initially, it gave HORRIBLY low contrast results-to the point that it almost was unusable. Every image scanned looked like it was taken with the camera lens fogged over. The Coolscans are a bit of a different beast since they don't have a glass platen to get dirty, but they do have a mirror that's fortunately somewhat accessible that does get dusty/hazy. I cleaned it CAREFULLY(pec pad and Eclipse fluid) along with any lenses I could see.

 

It was a night and day difference almost immediately-if I could access Pnet easily from the computer to which it's attached(Mac OS 9 doesn't have a browser that plays nicely with Xenforo, and even if it did I don't feel like uploading over an 802.11b WiFi network or alternatively transferring big scans off over USB 1.1) I'd show before and after scans of the same slide.

Just decided to clean my Epson V330. Disassembly is even easier (just two exposed screws by the top cover hinge, and the rest of the body snaps together, which I gently pried apart with a plastic knife). The whole job took about 30 minutes. I used Kimwipes moistened with Windex, polished carefully with a microfiber cloth, then air-dusted the glass before reassembly.

 

I thought I had noticed a slight softness in some of my scans too, and the test scans now look crisp and clean.

Edited November 20, 2019 by m42dave

also see

 

Dirty Scanner Optics

Clean the glass very late on a sunny afternoon under direct sunlight. Every spec of dust will be visible. It's a good time to clean your camera lenses and filters, too.