Epson Perfection 3170 Pulley Broke - Fix

[Tony Whitaker]

I just fixed the broken pulley on my Epson Perfection 3170 scanner.
I hadn't used the scanner for many months, and when I started it up today,
it wouldn't scan. The red LED was flashing on the silver start button. I
looked inside, and immediately saw that the pulley for the belt that moves
the scanning carriage was cockeyed. It had obviously come loose. I searched
the internet, and all I found were a few comments about flimsy plastic tabs
breaking, being unrepairable, and rendering the scanner useless. Although I
was very disappointed (I had not abused the scanner; it had never taken a
serious drop or hit), I decided I didn't want to give up on it.

I had a heck of a time figuring out how to open the case. I didn't see any
screws on the bottom or anywhere else. I looked inside through the glass,
and saw a series of tabs all around between the top and bottom of the case.
So, I guessed that these tabs must interlock in some way, and if I just
pried them apart, the top would come off.

Well, using a butter knife, I managed to break the top off the case without
seriously damaging anything (except that it won't screw back together now -
I can freely remove the top half of the scanner at any time now).

After breaking it, it became obvious where the screws were that I was
looking for. They're at the bottom of the holes in the top into which go the
posts for the clamshell (see link below to photo).

There's nothing particularly fragile inside. The ribbon cable to the front
buttons is quite strong, and the circuit board is simple and seems rugged.
Basically, all I did was use 2 small sheet metal screws with fender washers
to hold down the pulley slide that broke free from the plastic tabs that had
held in place. This required the drilling of 2 small holes through the
bottom of the scanner. I think the pictures in the following links make it
clear what needs to be done:

Location of the screws to open the case:
Loading Image...

Pulley, Pulley Slide, & Belt:
Loading Image...

It ain't pretty, but it works:
Loading Image...

I don't think I damaged anything. It seems to scan fine now. If I come
across any problems later that aren't obvious this soon after fixing it,
I'll report back here.

[Silicon Sam]

Post by Tony Whitaker
I just fixed the broken pulley on my Epson Perfection 3170 scanner.
I hadn't used the scanner for many months, and when I started it up today,
it wouldn't scan. The red LED was flashing on the silver start button. I
looked inside, and immediately saw that the pulley for the belt that moves
the scanning carriage was cockeyed. It had obviously come loose. I searched
the internet, and all I found were a few comments about flimsy plastic tabs
breaking, being unrepairable, and rendering the scanner useless. Although I
was very disappointed (I had not abused the scanner; it had never taken a
serious drop or hit), I decided I didn't want to give up on it.
I had a heck of a time figuring out how to open the case. I didn't see any
screws on the bottom or anywhere else. I looked inside through the glass,
and saw a series of tabs all around between the top and bottom of the case.
So, I guessed that these tabs must interlock in some way, and if I just
pried them apart, the top would come off.
Well, using a butter knife, I managed to break the top off the case without
seriously damaging anything (except that it won't screw back together now -
I can freely remove the top half of the scanner at any time now).
After breaking it, it became obvious where the screws were that I was
looking for. They're at the bottom of the holes in the top into which go the
posts for the clamshell (see link below to photo).
There's nothing particularly fragile inside. The ribbon cable to the front
buttons is quite strong, and the circuit board is simple and seems rugged.
Basically, all I did was use 2 small sheet metal screws with fender washers
to hold down the pulley slide that broke free from the plastic tabs that had
held in place. This required the drilling of 2 small holes through the
bottom of the scanner. I think the pictures in the following links make it
Location of the screws to open the case:http://www.mindspring.com/~lorqvonray/Hinges.jpg
Pulley, Pulley Slide, & Belt:http://www.mindspring.com/~lorqvonray/Pulley.jpg
It ain't pretty, but it works:http://www.mindspring.com/~lorqvonray/ScrewsOut.jpg
I don't think I damaged anything. It seems to scan fine now. If I come
across any problems later that aren't obvious this soon after fixing it,
I'll report back here.

I had the same problem with my 3170. It was a freebie given to me
by a Craiglist poster. I drilled a hole through the plastic where you
see the slot near the wheel. But not through the metal bracket, but
in the slot. As close to the wheel as you can get, but not touching
it. I put in a small screw, and a nut on the screw on the bottom. I
used some Locktite so the nut would not vibrate off. Main difference
in what I did, is I knew about the screws, and the screw and nut are
not tight, still allowing the bracket to float back and forth as
designed to do.

I'll post pictures later this weekend.

Raymond

[Tony Whitaker]

Post by Silicon Sam
I had the same problem with my 3170. It was a freebie given to me
by a Craiglist poster. I drilled a hole through the plastic where you
see the slot near the wheel. But not through the metal bracket, but
in the slot. As close to the wheel as you can get, but not touching
it. I put in a small screw, and a nut on the screw on the bottom. I
used some Locktite so the nut would not vibrate off. Main difference
in what I did, is I knew about the screws, and the screw and nut are
not tight, still allowing the bracket to float back and forth as
designed to do.

Yep. That would've been a quicker, simpler way to do it. I just wanted to
put up information that might help people with the same problem. The first
thing I did when I saw that it was broken is Google for "Epson 3170 scanner
pulley". Not much comes up. Hopefully, people will find our little
discussion here in the future when their 3170 breaks. It's a shame the
design is so weak that we needed to do this, but at least it can be fixed
quite easily. If I hadn't spent a half hour trying to open the case, it
would've taken only about 15 minutes to fix it. It would probably take less
than 10 minutes your way. I was enthusiastically happy with the scanner
before the pulley broke without any abuse whatsoever.

[Silicon Sam]

Post by Tony Whitaker

Post by Silicon Sam
I had the same problem with my 3170. It was a freebie given to me
by a Craiglist poster. I drilled a hole through the plastic where you
see the slot near the wheel. But not through the metal bracket, but
in the slot. As close to the wheel as you can get, but not touching
it. I put in a small screw, and a nut on the screw on the bottom. I
used some Locktite so the nut would not vibrate off. Main difference
in what I did, is I knew about the screws, and the screw and nut are
not tight, still allowing the bracket to float back and forth as
designed to do.

Yep. That would've been a quicker, simpler way to do it. I just wanted to
put up information that might help people with the same problem. The first
thing I did when I saw that it was broken is Google for "Epson 3170 scanner
pulley". Not much comes up. Hopefully, people will find our little
discussion here in the future when their 3170 breaks. It's a shame the
design is so weak that we needed to do this, but at least it can be fixed
quite easily. If I hadn't spent a half hour trying to open the case, it
would've taken only about 15 minutes to fix it. It would probably take less
than 10 minutes your way. I was enthusiastically happy with the scanner
before the pulley broke without any abuse whatsoever.

Finally got my picture uploaded to my Pee Cee. Here's how I did
mine, and in the picture you can see the remains of the old crappy
plastic clips.

Take the pic and store it somewhere....

Loading Image...

Raymond

[JohnCraft]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Tony's tip on how to open the scanner and Raymond's tip on how to
loosely screw down the pulley's mounting bracket were spot on. Thanks
to them, it was less than 30 minutes from noisy failure to scanning
again.

[Silicon Sam]

Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!
Tony's tip on how to open the scanner and Raymond's tip on how to
loosely screw down the pulley's mounting bracket were spot on.  Thanks
to them, it was less than 30 minutes from noisy failure to scanning
again.

I still have that scanner, but I've had 3 different ones since
then. Found an Epson 4490 cheap, then a new V300, then found a cheap
V500, which I still use now. The LED lighted scanners are nice. No
wait times for warm up.

[rodney]

How can I get that advice?

my OE shows no evidence of the early posts.

can you copy and repost for me please?

Rod.
Western Australia

Post by JohnCraft
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Tony's tip on how to open the scanner and Raymond's tip on how to
loosely screw down the pulley's mounting bracket were spot on. Thanks
to them, it was less than 30 minutes from noisy failure to scanning
again.

[Silicon Sam]

Post by rodney
How can I get that advice?
my OE shows no evidence of the early posts.
can you copy and repost for me please?
Rod.
Western Australia

Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!
Tony's tip on how to open the scanner and Raymond's tip on how to
loosely screw down the pulley's mounting bracket were spot on.  Thanks
to them, it was less than 30 minutes from noisy failure to scanning
again.

Try this link for the post.

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.periphs.scanners/topics

[rodney]

Thanks Sam, that worked.


"Silicon Sam" >

Post by rodney
my OE shows no evidence of the early posts.
can you copy and repost for me please?
Rod.
Western Australia

Try this link for the post.

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.periphs.scanners/topics

[p***@gmail.com]

Post by Tony Whitaker
I just fixed the broken pulley on my Epson Perfection 3170 scanner.
I hadn't used the scanner for many months, and when I started it up today,
it wouldn't scan. The red LED was flashing on the silver start button. I
looked inside, and immediately saw that the pulley for the belt that moves
the scanning carriage was cockeyed. It had obviously come loose. I searched
the internet, and all I found were a few comments about flimsy plastic tabs
breaking, being unrepairable, and rendering the scanner useless. Although I
was very disappointed (I had not abused the scanner; it had never taken a
serious drop or hit), I decided I didn't want to give up on it.
I had a heck of a time figuring out how to open the case. I didn't see any
screws on the bottom or anywhere else. I looked inside through the glass,
and saw a series of tabs all around between the top and bottom of the case.
So, I guessed that these tabs must interlock in some way, and if I just
pried them apart, the top would come off.
Well, using a butter knife, I managed to break the top off the case without
seriously damaging anything (except that it won't screw back together now -
I can freely remove the top half of the scanner at any time now).
After breaking it, it became obvious where the screws were that I was
looking for. They're at the bottom of the holes in the top into which go the
posts for the clamshell (see link below to photo).
There's nothing particularly fragile inside. The ribbon cable to the front
buttons is quite strong, and the circuit board is simple and seems rugged.
Basically, all I did was use 2 small sheet metal screws with fender washers
to hold down the pulley slide that broke free from the plastic tabs that had
held in place. This required the drilling of 2 small holes through the
bottom of the scanner. I think the pictures in the following links make it
http://www.mindspring.com/~lorqvonray/Hinges.jpg
http://www.mindspring.com/~lorqvonray/Pulley.jpg
http://www.mindspring.com/~lorqvonray/ScrewsOut.jpg
I don't think I damaged anything. It seems to scan fine now. If I come
across any problems later that aren't obvious this soon after fixing it,
I'll report back here.

SOLVED:
Similar problem became an easy fix. My belt tensioner mounting tabs broke off. No surprise, there's not much holding it there.

Taking off the top scanner lid reveals the only two screws to get the glass off (deep inside the post-holes). Once those are out, you lift that end only a little and slide the glass cover forward to disengage the front, then it's free.

Permanently securing the tensioner plate only req'd a couple of pilot holes and short threaded screws on either side and it was good as new.