Am fairly sure one of you will have some feedback for me re this …..
My scanner, a Umax 6450, the glass is ‘fogging’ on the light side of the glass. To clean it I need to disassemble the scanner. Does anyone have experience doing this?
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I don’t know how, but I just thought I should mention (in case your scanner is newish and still under warranty) that disassembling it will void the warranty. (of course if it is performing horrible scans because of the grime, it seems there is only one way to go to me 🙂
Ewww – I have a three year old Visioneer and I’ve never had anything like that happen. As a matter of fact, I really like my little scanner. Inexpensive but everything I need. 🙂
Certainly no warrantee issues to worry about 🙂 – had it for a few years now.
Whether or not is affecting my scans I don’t think i would know, but there is a definite ‘whitish’ haze/fog creeping down the glass and appears to be worsening (is that a word). It affects the scan quality in my minds eye.
I’ll have a look at the Umax site, but I’m afraid I know what I’ll find – a big fat ZERO. I’ve never had one phone call answered or an email replied to by Umax – nothing, nil, nada. (Please don’t buy Umax)
As to what causes it (lamp on/off) mine is not on continuously, but it appears to be heat related. Why? Well, I have no other guess.
Hi Buz, I too have an old UMAX scanner and I have noticed the very faint white haze on the underside of the glass too. There is no on/off switch so the lamp is on even tho it is not really visable unless you lift the lid. I don’t use the scanner very much, but today I was scanning in photos of the grandkids and did notice it. (Our weather is just awful, high humidity, light rain, salty fog, soggy furniture and (stinky) dogs, drippy towels, and the usual Yukky Cape Cod stuff waiting for the cold front to come thru.) So I blamed it on that. I must see what happens when the humidity and goo goes away. Let me know what happens with your UMAX when you experiment about with relative humidity and such. Even our photos were limp and sticky with humidity.
But the scans did come out very well however,,,,,,,,, Jane
Just took a look at the latest rel humidity and it’s around 72% – not exactly torrid.
Looked around the Umax site and all they offer is a cleaning for $60 – kinda don’t think so – I’ll buy a new scanner before Umax gets another penny of mine.
Just need to work up the courage to disassemble it – knowing when I was a 5 year old I just had to now how the clock worked – <g> – never did work again after I got through with it.
The haze seems to be sort of like the stuff that gets on the inside of the windshield and never seems to be really visible until the sun is directly shining on it. With the scanner light back of the glass, maybe that’s why it doesn’t seem to ruin the scans or even make them look hazy. I think I wil get my husband to see if it is worth taking apart. I notice it most if I lift the cover when the light is somewhere in the middle of a scan. I don’t know why it doesn’t affect the color or quality of the scans. This is an interesting thing,, hard to figure out. Jane
I have an old HP 3c scanner. I had to clean the glass on mine, as well, to clear up a hazy appearance… this after having the thing for ~6 years.
It appeared to me that the haze could have been a "mist" from the lubricants used on the internal moving parts. Just a guess.
Anyway, taking it apart was a snap… 4 screws (Torx – grrr) and the upper portion of the housing lifted off. The glass is captive in the plastic, but could be removed if absolutely necessary (I didn’t).
I used heavy-duty foaming windshield cleaner (Mopar!) on mine, without a thought as to whether it was a good idea or not. No problems, at all.
I know we have different units, but thought I’d pass along my experience in the event any parallels apply.
I’ve found some of those ‘frosted’ spots on my rarely-used Epson Perfection 1250 monitor. My ‘fix’ – at least for the moment – is to put the picture being scanned in an area of the glass that is not yet fogged. The Epson scanner looks like one of those things I encounter every once in a while where I can take it apart but not get it back together again….sorta like an old-fashioned watch.
Windex seemed to work great. Not sure what the ‘haze/fog’ was but it’s gone for now. It must be heat related though. Could be chemical residue from ‘cleaners’.
