Wolverine Pro with an odd issue

[Ken Stevens]

I got a decent deal on a wolverine pro being sold for parts recently on eBay. The description said it would run non-stop and couldn't be controlled. When I got it and installed an SD card I found a different issue instead - everything works fine until you try to record and then runs the claw about 1 revolution then it says "Please attach the power supply" and it stops...

I've done my share of reading past posts here and tried several things - cleaned the board, ribbon cable, and all connections with deoxit - no change. Took the claw assembly apart, cleaned and re-lubed it - no change, removed the end-stop - no change but quieter, tested all the caps for shorts and re-capped the electrolytics on the power supply - no change, attached power via mini-usb port - no change.

Then I monitored the photoelectric sensor with the claw running continuously and saw there was no change in the output while the claw was running - it's always high. So i tested this further by removing the sensor starting a record session while using a business card to interupt the beam manually in rhythm with the claw - and it worked! I got a video out of it.

Now, before I build up the arm of the claw that interrupts the beam while running to make it wider so it hangs lower to better interrupt the sensor, I thought I should see if anyone has run In to this before? Does it look like this thing is missing a piece or is something looking bent maybe? I have not yet run any film through it.

[Ken Stevens]

Hmm I think I found what's bent - can anyone tell me if this is normal to have a wire sized gap between the plastic and metal on the claw arm piece?

[Nantawat Kittiwarakul]

Had no experience with Wolverine scanner but similar issue when servicing one of VHS vcr I have. It just acted up on its own with no apparent reason. After tons of hair-pulling & frustration I found out that one of its reel-end sensor just gone bad, confusing its control board then gone wild. Replacing that faulty sensor with part from scrapped machine and it's now behaving normal ever since.

That metal plate on claw arm looked really bent to me. Is there any binding / grinding noise when running?

[Ken Stevens]

Hi Nantawat,
there is no grinding noise at all, just a light hum of the motors running. I decided to put some film in it and its running now and is moving the film consistently. I decided to make the part of the claw arm that breaks the photosensor a bit bigger rather than bending that piece. I was thinking maybe that bend is intentional to cause the arm to pull out of the way when going back to its starting point to grab the film again *shrug*

Thanks for your reply - I'm glad you were able to fix your vcr after earning it with all the frustration

[Stan Jelavic]

The metal part should not be bent. Here is the picture of the part from one of my machines
Looks like the bend is pushing the claw assembly up causing the tab to be misaligned with the
gap in the optical sensor.
Strange though that the metal part can get warped like that. Looks like a part defect prior to
assembly. But that should not have passed the final test one would hope?

[Ken Stevens]

Hey, thank you for checking that Stan! How odd - the film counter is in the 600's so it was working for a while at least.

I added a dab of black hot glue to the arm and cut it down to size once it cooled, it's working but I'd rather it be right so will plan on taking it apart and straightening out that bend.

Thanks again sir for checking that and sharing a photo!

[Stan Jelavic]

No problem Ken. Maybe leave it as is if it works and then fix it if you has issues with the film feed.