Where (and how) to get a GREAT LOUPE for free!

Peter E

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Once again a very clever suggestion Leonardo.

When my Epson scanner/copier/printer dies, I will see what I can salvage.

We have a recycling/transfer station in town that provides a LOT of materials free for the taking.
 

Leonardo

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Hi Peter, thank you for your kind comment.

That's great, you can go there to look for a discarded scanner instead of waiting until your multi-function dies.

Tell me something when you have the lens...

Best regards, Leonardo.
 

John B.

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Leonardo, Thank you.
As Kevin says we have Recycle centers which sound a lot like you have.
The ones in California are mostly one or two day affairs and announced in the local papers. They do not allow you to take anything out of them.
My two scanners were Epson and the only thing wrong was the usual nozzle clogs.
One was only 3 months old. I tried everything I knew to unclog them but no luck.
And as you know, Epson builds the nozzles into the machine not the cartridge.
With your knowledge I could have had a couple of good loupes at least.
Thanks for the information and best regards.
 

Peter E

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Canton CT
Leonardo - I salvaged a scanner from the pile of monitors and printers while at the transfer station today. A Visioneer Paperport 3100. It is just a scanner.

I proceeded to disassemble it and the lens was VERY tough to find! The reason for that is the small size of it. Unfortunately, it is too small to be useful as a loop, as it is barely over .5 inches in the metal mounting, and the lens itself is only .25 inches!

I guess I need a more commercial sized scanner:big grin:

It was interesting taking it apart however. Someone that knows how to work with boards and chips could probably salvage a LOT of items. There was literally a PILE of CRT's, printers and discarded electronics there.
 

Leonardo

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Way to go Peter!! Thank you for your feedback.

Regarding the lenses, yes, they are small but quite powerful and also a high quality optic. If you see trough the lens you will be able to verify that you can not see any color aberration or deformation in the image.

I realized that I did not talk anything about measures and also the photos may be confuse in this aspect.
I have measured one of mines and it is as follow: the housing is 0.627" diameter by 0.59" long (15.9x15mm) and the lens itself is less than a 1/4 inch.
Anyway you have about 30mm (1 1/4") of free space under it that I think may be enough to do some detailed work but also think that the main application would be to do inspection work.

I had not the opportunity to salvage a lens from a fax or a photocopier yet, but the lenses showed by Santos looks quite interesting and also are bigger that the scanner's ones.
Perhaps you can get back to the transfer station other day to look for a fax machine... I myself am looking for one of this! :big grin:

Kind regards,
Leonardo.
 

Mike Fennell

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Apr 6, 2007
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Matteson, a south suburb of Chicago.
Very useful ideas, Leonardo. Thank you.

I am hard on equipment, but in 20 years have never managed to break a scanner. I need to stop at the nearest recycling facility to pick up a few.

For good high-tech equipment, check the dumpster outside the engineering department of any research hospital. My brother used to keep the research department at the Veterans Administration Hospital running within its budget by recycling the equipment the engineering department threw away.

Mike Fennell
 

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