A DIY Book Scanner In Every Hackerspace /DIY Kit

[dbmoura]

Here are some parts build as a 3D model. I will publish other developments eventually.

base.png (17.15 KiB) Viewed 1602 times

arm.png (49.03 KiB) Viewed 1602 times

cradle.png (35.39 KiB) Viewed 1602 times

platen.png (45.73 KiB) Viewed 1602 times

light.png (23.58 KiB) Viewed 1602 times

Have fun!

[fitterman]

@dbmoura, fantastic!!

[Fast Eddie]

Yes, very nice work, @dbmoura!

I am working on a Sketchup model as well. A couple of minor points: the cradle book plate as shown in your drawing has notches on both ends (should only be on one end, at least from the plans that ron posted). I believe the notch is intended as a relief for the spine of the book and should be facing upwards; and there should also be a slot in the cradle that isn't in your drawing, which I believe is intended to provide relief for magazines and booklets that don't have a spine. Again, my apologies if I am wrong, and that is why we model things in the first place, to get all the kinks worked out.

The other concern(s) that I have is this: the pocket for the light fixture in the lighting module does nothing while it is pointing upward. I think it is intended to mount the fixture from the inside of the book scanner, so that when the lighting module is placed at the bottom of the scanner for scanning magazines and booklets there is a flat surface to support the weight of the book scanner. Thinking along those lines, it would seem to be more secure if there were cutouts in the platen module for the lighting module to fit into and lock into place...you sure wouldn't want the platen module to slip off the lighting module while it was inverted. Again, that's why we model these things in the first place.

EDIT: Looking at the pictures of the prototype on page 1, dbmoura's drawing is correct in the way the book cradle is designed. Evidently ron's plans are out of sync and/or represent a later version. Also, I still have questions about the the purpose of the pocket for the lamp fixture...I may end up putting that upper lamp module piece under the supports instead of on top to allow the fixture to remain inside the support when inverted, and adjusting the height of the lamp module legs to correct for the difference in distance...unless I misunderstood the video about the scanner being used inverted? If this is meant to be used inverted for magazines and booklets, then the handle and knuckle relief would be upside down and backwards (resolved by flipping the piece around and backwards?), as well as needing to be counterbalanced in the opposite direction...not to mention the book cradle, which would have to be secured instead of free-floating as it is now, unless the cradle is unnecessary...I think I will presume not to use the cradle inverted.

"Hmmm...I see", said the blind man to his deaf wife...

[aeturneus]

Is there anyone in the Calgary or Western Canada area that would be interested in collaborating on building a couple of these? I figure it will be cheaper to fab and buy parts in bulk.

[dbmoura]

Very exciting news and lots of people trying to think together, that's fantastic and it changes the way we live in this planet.
To extend the scanner to its limits, in terms of widht of page to be captured, it's necessary to prevent gaps between the page surface and the glasses. Daniel has noticed the problem of fixing the glass in a way to help this. It's the case of large brochres and paperback books.
I'll try to send a drawing with a solution based on using a nylon webbing 3/4" x 30" and attached to the lower spacer for stretching.
Meanwhile I made this invert model to feed the words and comments. As I understand we remove the cradle because we have to adjust the position of the book manually.

Inverted platen to scan brochure and paperback books

another view, the cradle has been removed in this assembling and the lighting module is sitting on the arm base.

From the back where the arm base is visible.

A transparent view to show another details.

Also the cradle in another view.

cradle in another view

transparent view

cradle-t.png (106.48 KiB) Viewed 1496 times

[Fast Eddie]

Again, fantastic work!!!

You show a dovetail in the cradle base...I think it is a slot, and I believe the intent is to provide an area for the binding of a spiral-bound book...Daniel mentions that his thought was to make the glass moveable in the slot to accommodate the spiral-bound binding so I infer that to mean the cradle base would need a similar relief. And the upper step in the book support plate doesn't seem to serve any purpose, so it could be eliminated for the sake of simplicity. I still question the need for the pocket for the light fixture...unless we all plan on using the same fixture, it seems that the pocket dimensions would vary depending on the light source at hand...

I never thought that the upper part would nest within the lower part! But seeing that it does, those corners that are removed on the lighting module seem to detract from the stability...maybe they should be left squared off, although the aesthetics would suffer somewhat (but form still follows function!)

Again, amazing work, @dbmoura!!!

On another note, I got my USB trigger done. I bought a pair of cheap Chinese car cell phone chargers just for the recoil mini-USB cords from fleabay for $.99 ea. + tax, but they sent me the household chargers by mistake. When I told the vendor about the problem, they refunded my money and shipped me the correct models! So I used one of the household chargers, cut the mini-USB plug off the end to supply the trigger and dropped the voltage (5.28v no load seemed a bit too high) through an LED (acts as a current limiter/fuse in case things go south) which gave me 3.8v at the cameras...just right! I had a small RatShack enclosure and a pushbutton switch in my spares box, so I am good to go with a USB trigger for...next to nothing but my good fortune...

[jck57]

I love Dan's design but If I was gonna build something similar in my own shop without the use of a CNC router, this is what I would do: Make a box out of 1/4" Luan plywood. Fasten it together with corner blocks, crown staples and glue. I would make a one piece cross-over/pulldown handle out of 1/2" EMT. It would link the two parallel arms around the back extending to the right side front for the handle. This would leave the left side front totally clear for your hand to turn pages or hold the book. I wouldn't do the flip-over option. I might try to attach a small football air pump to the linkage so it pumps as the carriage comes down. This would dampen the descent of the carriage and inflate a small air chamber to fire the cameras via tiny cylinders. I'd skip the routered groove and use aluminum angle to hold the glass in place. The lightweight, cheap thing could be quickly cut out with table saw, miter saw, sabre saw. Just some ideas for the old school DIY'ers.

luanbox2.jpg (74.46 KiB) Viewed 1289 times

[Digital_Paper]

Some fantastic work going on here. Well done to all those who have helped get this far.

I am soon to print out and cut this design using a jig saw and a bench drill, some of my books are larger than the standard 9x12x3 this scanner is designed to copy, i was wondering;
Q: Can the sides of the book cradle be extended so that a 12x12x3 book could be supported? and
Q: Would by simply printing the design 33% larger mean that the resulting scanner could scan larger scale books and still have all the auxiliary parts in the right locations? Camera, Amount of lift on the arms, light position etc.

Again, fantastic work, i wish i could wait until this design is completely perfect until i build my first replica but for me, this scanner (as it stands) would be all my Christmas's come at once.

[ateeq85]

Dan For the design you have do you think connecting a 10" seatpost will be too much for the handle insert? The dual cable handbrake you were using sat on the small clamping area of the seatpost which was 22.2 mm in diameter while the actual post was 25.4mm.

What I wanted to do was get a gold finger handbrake lever which is a One finger hand brake lever which seems to be more comfortable for the purpose it's being used for. I think a 10" seatpost with the same design as the one you used would leave enough room for the hand to feel comfortable on it without feeling cramped. The goldfinger handbrake I wanted to use is 25.4 mm in diameter so it is to big for the clamp area so it would have to sit on the post which wouldn't leave a lot of room for a hand to use it as a handle.

Do you think a 10" seatpost would put too much stress on the nut and bolt and be a risk of breaking off the piece of the scanner its attached to in your experience with the seatpost you are using as a handle which is about 6.5"-7".

[daniel_reetz]

ateeq/Digital_Paper- I'll answer your questions in full but

OH MY GOD Dario, did you just solve the problem where the lighting is in the way when in "paperback mode"? Rob just emailed me to point out your diagrams... it looks to me like with a minor modification of the top structure, it could rest upside-down on the bottom structure and allow the lighting to sit high!

Between you, GaryK, and the other great people documenting and refining this thing, I am totally impressed. This design has come so far, so quickly, thanks to the efforts of everyone here. Fantastic.