Cleaning a scanner bed

[dawnwithacamera]

Does anyone know how to clean a scanner bed. I hooked up my Dell All in one after not using it for almost a year and when I went to scan an old photo it was horrible. When I checked the scanner bed it was all cloudy. I do not remember cleaning it before I put it away, but I must have used something awful on it. Now I can't get the bed clear. Can anyone help me??


Dawn P in Michigan, soon to be a South Carolinian.

Canon EOS REBEL XSi
Flickr: dawnwithacamera

[Doug Pardee]

As a general rule, any of the various types of alcohol are pretty good for cleaning glass. But caution: don't use "rubbing alcohol", which often has oils and/or perfumes added to it. You want just alcohol.

Personally, I'd try eyeglass cleaner first. It's usually methanol, the same stuff that's in Eclipse lens-cleaning fluid (smells sweet). But isopropyl or denatured ethanol should work, too.

[edbayani]

i had a umax scanner before and when it gets dirty, i take off the top cover that includes the glass and clean it both sides using ordinary water and wiping it clean with scotchbrite cloth to remove all the oil that accumulates after a while,

[Quo Fan]

Use a good glass cleaner. When I was fixing copiers, I used a lightly foaming spray that is available only commercially. (One reason I never clean the windows in my house)

The best way, is to spray on the cleaner, and wipe it off with either a lint-free cloth, or newsprint (preferably after you have read the paper, or the unprinted stuff).