Who has disassembled a Spectroscan table

[shewhorn]

Someone here had mentioned they'd disassembled a Spectroscan table? I think I remember someone mentioning something about doing maintenance to theirs...

I KNOW the smell of burning electronics. Used to be an embedded software engineer (and um... let's just say it's possible to ignite a microprocessor on fire with a bug). Something undoubtedly fried in my Spectroscan table. Baffling thing is it works fine. Smells like torched shrink-wrap. I know that smell. The thing that has me baffled is that when you smell that smell... something really bad happens right afterward. This thing kept happily plodding along. I know better though... something is wrong so I'd like to open it up but figured I'd check here first. I'm fine with electronics... it's when motors and drive belts and other fun stuff like that get involved that I get a little nervous. Seeing as this thing is SOOOOooooo freaking old I'm banking on discrete electronics vs. surface mount so I can probably fix whatever it is. The fan was always sounding kind of manky so I'm hoping it's just a fan (however... I still hear a fan going it's not any quieter than it was before which leads me to believe that's not it).

Cheers, Joe

[shewhorn]

And oh... the smell (as you're facing the unit) is definitely wafting out of the left side... doesn't mean it's on the left side but I'm hoping for a "Oh yeah... stinky left side of the Spectroscan Table... that's most likely the....".

Cheers, Joe

[pherold]

Hi Joe,

The left side is where most of the business happens.  You probably won't be able to tell more until you open it up to look at it.

We have a brief description of how to remove some covers on a SpectroScan table.  This also includes a description of how we like to lubricate the rails on these units.  While we offer this advice, don't hold us responsible if anything goes wrong!  PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.  CHROMiX, inc. takes no responsibility for the accuracy of any content in this document.  

http://www.colorwiki.com/wiki/SpectroScan_maintenance

[shewhorn]

Thanks Patrick! That's exactly what I needed. I'll take a look tomorrow. Hopefully it's something fairly trivial. I might replace the fans while I'm in there as well, they sound like they're on their way out.

Cheers, Joe

[shewhorn]

Got it opened. That tip on getting the top housing off came in handy. Don't know if there's different versions of the chassis out there but mine had 7 screws on the bottom. Not that difficult to get into at all. As for the toasty electronics... it's going to have to remain a mystery for now. I inspected the motor drive board, the scan board, etc. and everything thing looks absolutely pristine. As for fans... there are none. The noise it makes when on comes from the motors so they must have some kind of flywheel.

Well... thanks again. I'll continue on scanning until the thing croaks (which hopefully isn't anytime soon... my Spectroscan/Spectrolino has quickly become one of my favorite pieces of gear).

Cheers, Joe