DJ Jules
31-08-2009, 08:36 AM
I've noticed over the last few gigs I've been doing that the motors in the Scanners I use (Zoom Scatscan Club's - almost identical to the Acme Dynamo, but in a formed steel case) have been getting a little "jumpy". So I connected them up to a DMX controller (usually they just run in Master/Slave mode) and tried manually tilting/panning them around and the motion is FAR from smooth.
Can anyone with a bit of experience with scanners tell me how long the stepper motors typically last in a set of Dynamo's (or any other unit?), what the symptoms are when they wear out (is jumpyness like I'm seeing typical?) and what on earth you do to get them repaired/replaced (is there any alternative to taking them to your local repair shop - has anyone been able to source parts independently?)
I'm going to be checking the wiring through this week to make sure that it's not just a loose cable to one of the motors or something similar, but I suspect it is actually the motors themselves as the problem seems to be affecting both pan and tilt and while the cabling to the tilt motor I'd expect to have problems (because it's moving all the time), I'd expect the pan cable to be pretty trouble free.
Anyone have any experience on this matter?
Julian
Can anyone with a bit of experience with scanners tell me how long the stepper motors typically last in a set of Dynamo's (or any other unit?), what the symptoms are when they wear out (is jumpyness like I'm seeing typical?) and what on earth you do to get them repaired/replaced (is there any alternative to taking them to your local repair shop - has anyone been able to source parts independently?)
I'm going to be checking the wiring through this week to make sure that it's not just a loose cable to one of the motors or something similar, but I suspect it is actually the motors themselves as the problem seems to be affecting both pan and tilt and while the cabling to the tilt motor I'd expect to have problems (because it's moving all the time), I'd expect the pan cable to be pretty trouble free.
Anyone have any experience on this matter?
Julian