Broken Scanner Mirror

[pschlosser]

I bought some DT-40W scanners, today. I went and picked them up. I may have been careless, because when I got home, the mirror on the Y scanner is very loose, and would come off if I pulled on it with tweezers.

Can this be repaired very easily?
Is it a precision thing?
Can I do it?
Or must I send my scanner off to be repaired?

I am saddened with my newly acquired item.
If anyone has some advice, I would welcome some right now.





It may be hard to tell from the photo, but she is broken across the bottom of the mirror where it meats the shaft.

... shortly after taking the photos, the mirror done fell off her shaft in exhaustion.

[m0f]

From what I've heard it involves gluing the mirror as centered as possible, followed by a re-tune of the amp. I'd like to know myself just what's involved as I have a set of dt40's with a broken mirror I've been meaning to get up and running.

[mixedgas]

Clamp a hemostat on the shaft as close to the bearing as possible. Using a HOT soldering iron, quickly heat the remaining portion of the galvo shaft near the top. Your goal is to just soften the epoxy without cooking the oil out of the bearing. Sweep the remaining mirror out with a x-acto blade, dental tool, or eyeglass screwdriver as quickly as possible. This is tricky, but there is no easy way to remove the remaining glass out of the slot in the shaft.

Make a support jig of some sort to hold the mirror precisely as the epoxy will move the mirror somewhat when hardening. Avoid fast five minute epoxy, as it will pull the mirror around like crazy compared to a slow cure.

The trick is getting the right mirror and not damaging sides of the slot in the shaft. The rest is easy.

You'll probably need to calibrate the board, I'll post a link to a galvo tuning instruction in the morning.

Steve

[dsli_jon]

...Make a support jig..

..Or send em down to me, and I can help ya out in a jif..



IIRC, both of those mirs are the same-length, yes? If so, what I would recommend doing is, once the snapped-piece is out (..and, yes, I am happy to 'gut the fish' for ya.. we 'snip' it, to shorten it, just a tad, and clip the 'corner-chamfers', to match.. then, designate this as the 'X' (since it does not need nearly as-much 'span' as the Y..), and retune both amps, for the 'swap'...(..yes, I have done this with 6800 Y's in an emergency, and it works fine, just leaves you with a bit less 'scan-angle'... in this-case, you'd be fine, since the 'unbroked' one, can still be used as the Y...)

..Or ya can just buy a new mir, glue it up we the P'Fesser outlined, and call it a banana.

fwiw..
j

[pschlosser]

Those jigs are mighty nice. Would you care to lease the longer Y jig to me for a week?

Also, I enjoy your style of writing.

[dsli_jon]

hey ps -

Those jigs are mighty nice. Would you care to lease the longer Y jig to me for a week?

Well, I'd not-charge you, but.. here's the only deale-o - a) I (actually) have 5 sets of glue-ups I am doing in the next week-ish, with them, and b) I would only send them out, if you were willing to commit to 'if you break, you buy' (translation: pay the cost to machine a new one, since these are not available, 'OTS', from anywhere I know-of, and... pretty-sure these are the last set on the planet.. So, those-be my 'terms for loanage'.. Lemme know...

PS - If you've never 'snipped' a galvo mir, w/o breaking it, I suggest not 'losing yer virginity' on this-one.. You need a very-specific type of wire-snip, and, a fair-bit of 'practice' (aka - destroyed mirs >_< ) to nail it on the first try - especially when it must be your only-try cuz ya've only got one 'try'.. So...

Also, I enjoy your style of writing.

heh, you mean you don't *mind* my 175-different STYLES of 'over-punctuating' / butchering posts??? ..I know, I know.. I need to see a Doctor, for sure..

j

[mixedgas]

Bonjour, Greetings from Camp Grenada*, aka Quebec City..

Link as promised: http://www.skywise711.com/lasers/scanner/scanner.html
Other link: http://lasershowparts.com/files/Arti...20Tutorial.pdf

* Google the term.

I second Jon's suggestion on reuse and retune, although I prefer diamond tipped scribes and kerosene lubricant to snips.

You should practice on thin stock before risking a important material.

Steve

[pschlosser]

Can I not buy a mirror already cut to size: 5 X 16 X 0.8mm?

Or must I cut my own?

[m0f]

DT (dragon tiger) sells replacement mirrors for their scan sets. Or possibly Onestoplasershop would have one that would fit.

[pschlosser]

Thank you. I've got an email out to them both.