This weekend I finally dusted off my scanner off after months of inactivity and lots of pictures piling up in the to scan queue. My last post of a postcard I received over 7 months ago is evidence of that. In fact, after experiencing computer problems earlier this year, my scanner wasn’t even installed on my PC anymore. So I dusted off the scanner (literally, it was really dusty), installed the drivers and was ready to scan. Only one problem — instead of scanning, my scanner just sat there frantically flashing a little red light. Bugger!

After fiddling around with the software, restarting both scanner and PC a few times and doing all the usual sanity checks (I even checked the scanner manual to find out what a flashing red light means — apparently, it means something is wrong with the scanner and I should bring it into a certified Epson service center — as always the manual is SO helpful), I finally decided to inspect the scanner hardware itself and I discovered the problem. Under the glass scanner bed I could clearly see that the belt that moves the scanner head up and down was laying slack and the post and wheel the supports the belt was askew. Double Bugger!!

It was just as I was beginning to curse my bad luck and wonder when I could buy a new scanner and get my pictures scanned when my inner engineer kicked in. Maybe all is not lost — maybe I can fix the scanner! I quickly whipped out my tools and the disassembly began. In a matter of minutes I was holding the offending bits of plastic in my hands; two small plastic tabs had given up after years of diligently holding my scanners insides together and snapped off — cheap pieces of crap! But how could I possibly re-secure my scanner’s entrails and get it up and running again? After sifting through my drawer of spare parts, odds and ends (a fixture of any engineer’s home) I found my answer … DOUBLE STICK TAPE! After a careful application of the super-sticky stuff, my scanner was up and running again, admirably doing its duty and working beautifully.

It’s a common geek joke that an engineer will try to fix anything with duct tape, but how many actually ever do? That I was able to take a piece of complex electronics and make it go from broke to working with just tape and ingenuity could be one of the proudest moments of my engineering life.