Anyone here ever attempted (or better yet, succeeded at) adjusting the
focus on an ordinary tabletop scanner?

I've got a cheapie (Microtek V6USL), now more than 10 years old, still
works, still as noisy as ever. It works, but it's certainly not a great
scanner, and perhaps is doing the best it ever will do. But I'm not sure
it's in focus. Having stripped down scrapped scanners, I know there's a
focus adjustment, done at the factory and invariably set with some kind
of paint or glue.

Just wondering if it would be worthwhile trying to adjust mine. I
suppose marking the current setting for return in case of problems, and
trial and error could work.

The other annoying thing about the scanner is that it has to be "warmed
up"; the first scan or two are always way too light and washed out. Is
this typical of CCDs of this vintage? I remember seeing this same
behavior with some low-res cameras my company used to use on a CD
printing system we made, to take snapshots of CDs in the printer tray;
our software took two or three shots, threw them away and then took one
for real.


--
Comment on quaint Usenet customs, from Usenet:

To me, the *plonk...* reminds me of the old man at the public hearing
who stands to make his point, then removes his hearing aid as a sign
that he is not going to hear any rebuttals.