A VERY long shot!!!!

Hi all.

I have managed to resurrect my Minolta ScanDual 3 from the survivors of our 'surge' damage. Even found the matching power supply and downloaded the manual and XP drivers BUT the slide transport is missing. In essence, it is only a divided strip of plastic with cutouts for the slides. However, the dimensions are fairly critical. Does anyone have such a machine and, if so, could they measure the item. Even longer shot, does anyone have a spare which I could buy?

Alternatively, what would be the opinion of trying to manufacture the thing out of thin plastic card and are there any recommended sources for this material, please?

rgds

Bill

Can't help you on the actual item but if you are going to build one up from bits I would recommend one of those glue guns which are pretty cheap as are the sticks for them

They do a great job at joining plastics, as well as working on a myriad of other tasks and materials

I got one at the weekend and can't believe how useful its been, fixed a leaky plastic gutter, the headband on a pair of headphones, rebuilt a knackered satnav protection wallet with strips of hard plastic from a  chopped up chinese carry out container placed inside the outer leather shell, ...and those sticky backed coathooks which drop off after 6 hours?.. now they stay stuck!

GL

Edited By Ady1 on 10/11/2016 01:39:54

Sounds like an ideal task for a 3D printer if you have one. Or perhaps someone here could run one off if you do get the dimensions.

You have a PM Jack

"There couldn't be a more unsuitable way of producing a part than by 3D printing. There is a very long way to go before they can be used for serious purposes..."

Neil

CJ, Sorry to hijack the post, but I was interested to read you had surge damage, was this just after a power cut? we had one a few weeks back, a momentary one after which my bedroom clock went haywire. Logic tells me the power cut was the cause, but Western power refuse to pay for a new one citing that no employee of Western power did anything wrong. Has anybody else had items fail immediately after a power cut?

Chris Gunn

We had a split second power cut some months ago and my expensive HP all-in-one desktop PC has never worked since. It's bound for spares or repair on Ebay when I can be bothered.

Rik

.

Very practical, I would say, Bill

Slater's Plasikard: **LINK**

https://slatersplastikard.com/plastikard/largePlastikard.php

MichaelG.

The Minolta 'Dimage' slide scanners are still highly praised by their users and feature in online forums and sites...also items come up regualarly on ebay and the US ebay site always has lots of both the scanners and the bits for them etc.

You could do a bit of research online and you might find something useful or someone who could draw round their slide holders and let you have the drawing. You might even find the items themselves for not very much!

Sounds like an easy job for a laser cutter.

Mine handles Plasticard with no problem and very good detail and accuracy.

A lot of modern trackside scenery is laser cut from Plasticard nowadays.

Thank you so much to everyone for their replies. I am now sorted - as suggested by Bob Stevenson, not for "not very much" but certainly much less than the new price.

MichaelG - sounds ideal and may well still try to make replicas.

Chris and Rik - just to clarify, the 'surge' was the 2013 N Sea destructive variety, not electrickery

JS - Yet again, I wish, wish, wish that I lived next door to you!!

Ady - Great minds etc. - have had several glue guns over the years and two days ago picked up one of Lidl's latest offerings. Your point about their usefulness in this sort of area is well made.

rgds

Bill

Edited By Cornish Jack on 10/11/2016 11:50:06

Surge as in extreme low atmospheric pressure, high tides, and storm conditions, Bill just about got washed away.
Ian S C

Yes, but only because many electrical items are stressed by being switched on and off. The US military discovered in the Vietnam War that their electronics became much more reliable when it had to left running continually for operational reasons.

This is about probability though - there are plenty of other reasons why your clock might have failed. Western may be completely innocent. You would have a much stronger case if several other appliances had broken at the same time. My boss came home from work one day to find his street blocked by fire-engines and electricity vans. An electrical mistake had burnt out most of the appliances in many homes. They paid up with no demur.

A point about haywire devices: it may not be permanent. Lots of appliances these days contain a microcontroller with persistent memory that can be scrambled by a power-cut. My cooker goes mad if it's switched off. It may be necessary to reset the item to restore order. Sometimes this is done by leaving it unplugged for an extended time before restarting. Other items have tiny reset buttons or some other read-the-manual method.

Dave

Agreed, the EEPROM in many microcontrollers is notoriously vulnerable to power spikes. I now keep data in flash which seems to be much more reliable (and is faster and easier to use...)

Neil