EEVblog #312 - Photocopier Teardown Follow-up

A small follow-up on the Panasonic photocopier teardown, showing the paper feeder tray.

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[isoguy.]

Hi Dave, thanks for all the interesting videos. As a 58 year old newbie to electronics your videos have inspired me to build my own projects, starting with arduino. The component and board descriptions during your tear downs really help to give me new project ideas. I relay dislike all those who put forward negative destructive comments rather than constructive helpful comments to help other viewers. I guess their negativity stems from their own inadequacy. keep up the brill videos please. thanks again Jon c, twickenham, London, england.

[rocketmanprojects]

Wow, these things are a robot builders gold mine!

[gollumondrugs]

I saw your copier teardown too. So much engineering goes into these things, always wondered why they were expensive. A treasure trove for robot builders in there!

[aladaris]

Oh god, i need a Photocopier, i'll love all those sensors, motors and cogs :)

[SeanBZA]

The sensors are to select an auto enlarge/reduce for the fax side of the machine, so a small document is full size on the receiving end. Changes from none to 3 other according to document size. Also works for the copier side if it is on default of auto then all docs are full size on paper supply. The clip on optoswitched have a separable top, you can pull it off and see the diode and phototransistor inside it in clear packages.

[johnfranks]

Yeah... I'm afraid it would be like watching a re-run of the photocopier episode. I actually had Déjà vu watching you tear down that copier... The Konica/Minolta Color Laser printer I dismantled looked like it was born from same set of design files as your copier. The harness techniques, a lot of the hardware, a number of the modules all had a uncanny resemblance. I suppose it could just be typical of nice Made in Japan commercial print gear...
-sj

[toxanbi]

Nowadays in my town it is easier to find ancient treasure than to find old matrix printer or 5'25 floppy drive. I even couldn't get old-school voice-fax-modem here when I need it.

[valordk]

Total teardowns are good for fun and can yield looots of shafts, ballbearings, brass bearings, photo interrupters, limit swithches (general purpose only, I have not yet salvaged any high precision switches), cabling&connectors, ferrite bead, LCD (often standard modules with drivers, otherwise not usable much), aluminium heatsinks & thermal pads (these are always nice to have). Dave, we know you have increased the weekly video uploads, but any plans to cover more projects, we miss the DIY part.

[ixamraxi]

I might have to keep an eye out for some of these, those steppers alone would make the investment in a broken machine worthwhile.

[EEVblog]

That's the phrase I was looking for...

[valordk]

That's the ADF (automadic document feeder) unit. From the experience, they will usually have the best stepper motors you can salvage from a copier teardown. I've stopped hauling the bulky copiers back to the garage a long time ago, and now I get ADF units instead. It's the most efficient way to go if you have lots of these units and limited time, given that you are after stepper motors (mainly for DIY CNC builds) and dont care about the other "gems".

[johnfranks]

A chunky commercial Laser printer yields just about the same bounty as a copier, but at about 1/3 of the bulk. Your local thrift shop likely has a stack of copiers/printers collecting dust bunnies back in the warehouse. Fun stuff!
-sj

[tookitogo]

Isn't that "linear cog" system called a rack and pinion?

[billyproctor]

Mine was better than yours Dave, I pulled a total of 47 optical sensors out of the Brother, I have enough for the rest of my life and I've been told I have another one coming. Cheers, Billy, Canada

[EEVblog]

I scored two in the garbage room the other week. Maybe a tear down of those as well?

[WVCapsfan]

With all those stepper motors, you now have enough parts to build your own Makerbot. Don't turn it on, build it from scavenge!

[CustomBuilt]

I have build a transformer and coil winding machine from an old photocopier :D

[Satchmoeddie]

I found the coolest stuff in an OLD box of collator parts! Think Germaniun transistors OLD! All of it was brand new old stock Phoenix Arizona Motorola made stuff. The box was a mass order Motorola never shipped. I think if I took Dave to work with me I'd have to keep him on a leash! He would be trying to tear apart everything in sight.

[EnergeticAdvantage]

It's called a rack and pinion Dave.

[Pau_Pau]

Man, taking apart a big printer is like slaughtering a cow.
So much delicious meat everywhere!