Cleaning the Sanyo PLC-XE40 projector

[Gromit]

We have 18 Sanyo XE40s on Promethean Activboards and several are very dim and showing colour shading and patterning. We sent one back under warranty for the severe colouring (I thought the LCD panel had gone) and were told it needed cleaning; £90 plus carriage.

We have a very thorough filter cleaning regime here every two weeks where the outsides of the projectors are dusted down with a hand-held vacuum then the filters are removed with the vacuum on to catch any stray dust that may drop in off the filter. Ours is a relatively new school with clean ceilings and tight pile carpets, ie there is very little dust around unlike in our old school. We offered this data to Promethean but they were not interested. We declined the clean and the projector was returned to us in the same state, effectively unusable.

We bought a service manual and studied it then proceeded to strip this projector down. The dust was unbelievable inside! We stripped down the light path and cleaned everything and reassembled it. PAT tested it and it was as good as new. We are now on the 16th projector (we are doing them all regardless of condition as they are all 2.5 years old) and they've all had a new lease of life.

It took us three hours to do the first one (extra extra careful!) and now our technician has it down to 75 mins start to finish. It is not a difficult job to do; you just need to be methodical, careful and patient. Materials needed are as follows:

Antistatic mat/wristband/clip etc
Usual screwdrivers/Allen keys/tweezers
Half a can of air duster (we get two projectors done per can)
Lint-free lens cloths
Glass cleaner
Test pattern generator (optional - could use some software pattern generator instead)
PAT tester
Quiet place to work undisturbed
Confidence to handle the components safely without dropping them!

If there's any interest out there I'd be happy to put together a sequence of events (disassembly/cleaning process/reassembly) for other members with the usual disclaimers, ie this is how we do it and it works for us, but if you break your projector following what we've done then it's down to you

Let me know.

[plexer]

Sounds good please do produce your guide.

Ben

[ozzy]

here here

[bertster]

Great, Please let me have a copy of the guide when you've produced it. Thanks

[mdolderson]

Great, Please let me have a copy of the guide when you've produced it. Thanks

[plexer]

It can be put on the edugeek wiki or similar so no need to add me too on the thread guys.

Ben

[csl6]

It seems that Sanyo projectors do tend to attract a lot of dust. The places I work at are very dusty but the other projectors don't attract as much. I had a couple of these turn go really dim and a few that had green blobs in the corners despite then all being just over a year old. I managed to get in contact with Promethean but they told me it needs a deep clean which will cost over £270 each! I tried to argue but that got me no further.

I decided to take the plunge with taking these apart to give them a clean after I managed to take apart and clean a few Sanyo PLC-XU41 projectors which boosted my confidence. I saw the huge improvement with the XU41s and crudely deduced that the XE40 must be similar. They are very similar except that the XE40 has the huge lens which makes it a bit awkward, the XU41 motherboard has two connections that are the same size and are next to each other and the XU41 has a front piece that needs to be removed before removing the motherboard.

Although I probably haven't done the clean as extensive as the thread starter I have managed to get the whole process done in 45 minutes and the improvement is huge. I can finally turn it to low brightness mode.

I was surprised how relatively simple these projectors were to take apart and get to the lenses and LCDs. I wished I did it earlier and not have the pupils suffer.. or maybe not.

I have started to take apart a few other makes and found LCD projectors are pretty similar. Difficult projectors to take apart were the old Sahara LCD and DLP projectors. I tried to take apart a crappy BenQ DLP projector but gave up when I could not even get the housing open.

Although, I have no more XE40s to clean, I am planning to clean a couple of XU41s soon. If there is interest I can post a photographic guide when I get them done. Will also plan to clean some spare Epson EMP-81s and EMP-71s, too.

[synaesthesia]

Nice going - I attempted something very similar myself on exactly the same model projectors (these are the orange ones from memory?) but half a day a week doesn't lend itself to strip repairs of projectors
The only thing I can add is that compressed air lends itself to the job of cleaning these out rather better than vacuums - just make sure there's no kids in the room at the time

Had a couple of these models go back to Promethean for warranty replacement - I can't say I'm entirely impressed with them, lifespan wise.

[Gromit]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the interest in a guide for cleaning the XE40. I'll set things going and get it put up as soon as I can. May need a hand model though for the close-up shots of the operation

[TechSupp]

Would love a copy of any cleaning procedures so I can see what needs doing, the more models the better, maybe we could all add to it to make up a resources for all? Most of our buget seems to go on these things now and any chance to extend the life would be great.

[TechSupp]

Just had a go at an internal clean of an NEC 6111 projector and it was....surprisingly easy Once you have figured out whats what, its easy to open up and then its just one screw to lif of the cover from the mirror lens area, no messing with anything technical. Can or air later and mirrors and lens are shining bright! You could see the fine dust on the mirror hence the dull image even with a new bulb, now its clear as a bell. Wish I'd done it before we just replaced the projector, hey ho we now have a spare projector
At least now I'm more enthusiastic to have a go at some of the other makes (although I don't for one minute think it will be as easy as that one!)
Thanks to those who have attemped a clean and encoraged me some way to have a go myself. If anyone wants I'll even take it apart again and take some photos if they want to have a go, but make it soon as it will be going back to school soon (yes, I'm daft enough top be doing this at home at half term!)

PS Anyone had a go at an Epson S3 or S4?

[TechSupp]

After the success of the HP projector clean I've just done an Epson-S4 and what a difference! We were considering changing the projector as it was on its second bulb and the image was poor, dull etc but now back to good as new. A few more bits to take apart but nothing complicated so long as you watch what you are doing and are methodical. There is clear access to the lens etc and can be blown out easily...sad nut I can't wait to have a go at another one :-) Think its another S4 or an S1 next then I think its a Panasonic.

[lovelldr]

Any chance of getting this procedure put together?!

Would love to know what to do etc, as got quite a few which are really starting to go dull.

CHeers

[TechSupp]

I'll try and put something together when I get the chance. Just done a Sony today, but more fiddly but doable. The Epson S1 was a bit more fidly than the S3 but not much more.

[lovelldr]

CHeers mate.

Just really interested in the "at point x spray air" etc. i.e. what is needed at what place. Would take it to pieces and just play, but don't really wanna knacker it up either