Image calibration should be done at installation. It does not need to be performed every day. Image calibration should be done when image quality begins to degrade.
If contrast and threshold settings have not changed and the same document or type of document, (i.e. black text on a white background) now appears dark or dirty.
The target should be totally white with a matte finish.
The target should be wider than the width of the largest document that will be scanned. Kodak sells a 12" x 12" calibration target that removes all doubt of whether the target is big enough. This is also available in the consumables kit.
An 8.5" x 11" sheet of white paper can be used if fed in the landscape orientation and no documents to be scanned are wider than 11 inches.
If the customer is using the 3500 diagnostics supplied by Kodak, calibration can be selected from the first screen in diagnostics. You must wait three minutes after powering on the scanner, or if the scanner has been in the lamp auto save mode, (the lamps appear off), before attempting image calibration. If you don't, you will get an error message indicating that you must wait. Wait the three minutes and try again.
The scanner can be calibrated using the run and stop keys on the scanner itself. A host does not need to be connected to make this work, (although a host can be connected and it will still work.) Press the red stop button and hold for five seconds. Then while still holding the stop button, press the green start button. The transport will start and the calibration target will be fed.
There are two common reasons for calibration to fail:
Go into the 3500 diagnostics. Select "ADVANCED", select "TEST", then select "ERROR LOG". This will open up the error log. All errors are recorded with the most recent one at the top of the log. Scroll all the way to the right to see a text message describing what the error is. There may be something simple you can do to clear the error. If not, call the ICRC and give them the error number. They will instruct you what to do or dispatch an FE.
The separator roller should last 300,000 to 600,000 document feeds per roller, depending on what type of document is being fed.
Expect less life on thicker documents, NCR paper, or any carbonless forms.
Clean the rollers with the roller cleaning pad, CAT# 835-5981. These pads are included in the consumables kit. Rollers should be cleaned weekly or whenever feeding problems occur.
Clean the rollers. If double feeds continue, replace the separating roller.
If the feeder does not take in any documents, but the feed rollers turn when the scanner is enabled, the feed rollers (the black ones) are probably dirty. Clean the rollers, both sets, with the roller cleaning pad and try feeding again.
Everyone. It is stated in the service agreement that the customer will have access to the diagnostics.
Customers should call the integrator or reseller they purchased the scanner from.
If a 3500 scanner arrives at the customer site with shipping damage, the customer should contact the integrator or reseller. The integrator or reseller should then work with their Kodak marketing representative to get credit for the damaged unit and get a new one on site.
Call the ICRC at 1-800-822-1414 and report the problem the customer is having. Be prepared to give K#, serial #, and site name. Also have a copy of the error log to fax or e-mail to the ICRC. If possible, acquire the "bad" consumable and send it to the ICRC for analysis. We will be happy to investigate any problem, but it needs to be accompanied by concrete evidence.
Image quality issues should be addressed by the integrator or reseller. Generally if an image is too light or too dark, the imaging parameters need to be adjusted.
The two primary parameters are threshold and contrast. The 3500 produces bi-tonal images which means that every pixel will be either white or black. Threshold is a value on a scale of 0-255. This tells the scanner at what point to make a pixel white and at what point to make it black. Or in other words, the threshold value is the line that separates the white and black. A higher threshold will result in more pixels being black and thus a darker overall image. Lowering the threshold makes more pixels white and creates a lighter overall image. This parameter will have to be adjusted to achieve the optimum quality for the customer's documents.
Contrast is a value from 0 to 100. A percentage, it determines how aggressive we want the adaptive threshold processing (ATP) to be. The ATP looks for differences in pixel values and differentiates the foreground and background. It then amplifies the difference to make light colored text such as pencil markings on a dark background such as a green document appear black on white. The higher the contrast value, the greater the amplification of the differences between foreground and background. But as the contrast value is raised, more dirt and dust particles will be amplified as well. Again, this parameter will have to be adjusted to achieve the optimum quality for the customer's documents.
A vertical black line is usually the result of ATP amplification of dust on the imaging guide. The first step would be to clean the imaging guide. If the line is still present, try lowering the contrast until the line disappears. Due to the design of the scanner, it is more common to see dust lines on the rear image than the front.
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