A DIY Book Scanner In Every Hackerspace /DIY Kit

Built a scanner? Started to build a scanner? Record your progress here. Doesn't need to be a whole scanner - triggers and other parts are fine. Commercial scanners are fine too.

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Heelgrasper
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Re: A DIY Book Scanner In Every Hackerspace /DIY Kit

Post by Heelgrasper »

rob wrote:No, the optical zoom of the camera is enough to zoom in on smaller pages without losing any detail. If you have to use digital (i.e. fake) zoom to get a full image, your book is probably too small for the scanner.
I could have overlooked it somewhere in this 25 pages but just to make things clear:

As far as I can tell the distance between camera and platen is about 17 inches. True?

The reason I ask is that as far as I can see there some problems with some never models of compact cameras. For example the new Canon PowerShot A810 (specs: http://usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/prod ... ifications ). All is fine and dandy when you don't zoom since it only needs to be 1.2 or 2 inches from the object to be able to focus. But when you zoom the number changes to 3.9 feet. I can't tell from the specs if those 3.9 feet is true as soon as you zoom though.

If that is the case you would be stuck with field of view of something like 22 x 16 inches and that's a lot of wasted pixels.
---
Jakob Øhlenschlæger
Randers, Denmark

The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there
L. P. Hartley
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rob
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Re: A DIY Book Scanner In Every Hackerspace /DIY Kit

Post by rob »

zafferdemmir wrote:Hi, I want to cut DIY_Book_Scanner_v0.9.10.zip (or newer version), but all CNC machines in Turkey uses metric systems (mm. or cm), But measurements of files in DIY_Book_Scanner_v0.9.9.zip is in inch system.
I will be happy if you convert files in metric system (in mm.) an upload site. Thank you for your help.
Hi zaffer,

There is a line in the .ai and .dxf files that is exactly 12 inches long (304.8 mm). If you open up the file in a CAD program, you should be able to convert from inches to mm or cm, and then you can verify that the program did the right thing by measuring that line.

--Rob
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rob
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Re: A DIY Book Scanner In Every Hackerspace /DIY Kit

Post by rob »

ateeq85 wrote:For the new L bracket platten placement without grooves for the scanner how does the glass or plexi clamp in place what is used to keep it in place now this isn't to clear to me but I am considering having just these two pieces cut out again for the improved platten placement. will the previous models pieces still lock in place with the new version.
Take a look at the assembly manual I put in the beginning of this post, and you can see how it works. For some reason it's hard for me to describe, but basically the L bracket (along with little felt pads) clamps the glass against the wood securely.

You can definitely throw the old face plates out, and the new face plates will fit perfectly with the previous parts.
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Re: A DIY Book Scanner In Every Hackerspace /DIY Kit

Post by rob »

Fab52 wrote:Are you from IKEA guys ? I was reading your instructions guide to assemble the book scanner tonight and it just remenber me those IKEA instruction guide.... really well done... Two thumbs up!!!!
Ha ha! Thanks, I was definitely trying for an IKEA look. Some people hate the wordless IKEA instructions, but I think they're perfectly clear! Although with something as complicated as this book scanner, I decided that adding words with each step was important.
Fab52 wrote:I got different quote from those guys, one ask 10 hours for programming at 40$ + 2 hours for cutting it at 40$ + the price of the baltic birch at 71.00$ for 5X5" sheet, this guy was in a small town and alone with a CNC router. The best price so far come from a guy in a middle town size with competition, 100 $ for programming + 60$ for cutting the two sheets and 52.50 for each sheets of 5x5 baltic birch.... The 100$ is one time fee after that, if I want an other one or somebody in the Montreal area, we will have to pay the cutting and the price of the sheets.... Let's get that scanner in every small organisation like ours.....
Your experience is pretty common! There is a lot of effort required to convert the dxf file into something that a CNC machine will understand. The first time I did it, it took me something like 12 hours. But as I learned the software, I could do the entire conversion in about two hours. So the price differences that you see could be because of different experience levels.

The $100 guy sounds good to me! The price for the birch plywood is surprisingly low to me, but maybe the guy has a good supplier.

Anyway, after you get your scanner cut, please let us know how it went -- maybe you can also help other people in Canada get their scanners cut!

--Rob
The Singularity is Near. ~ http://halfbakedmaker.org ~ Follow me as I build the world's first all-mechanical steam-powered computer.
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daniel_reetz
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Re: A DIY Book Scanner In Every Hackerspace /DIY Kit

Post by daniel_reetz »

Heelgrasper wrote:
rob wrote:No, the optical zoom of the camera is enough to zoom in on smaller pages without losing any detail. If you have to use digital (i.e. fake) zoom to get a full image, your book is probably too small for the scanner.
I could have overlooked it somewhere in this 25 pages but just to make things clear:

As far as I can tell the distance between camera and platen is about 17 inches. True?

The reason I ask is that as far as I can see there some problems with some never models of compact cameras. For example the new Canon PowerShot A810 (specs: http://usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/prod ... ifications ). All is fine and dandy when you don't zoom since it only needs to be 1.2 or 2 inches from the object to be able to focus. But when you zoom the number changes to 3.9 feet. I can't tell from the specs if those 3.9 feet is true as soon as you zoom though.

If that is the case you would be stuck with field of view of something like 22 x 16 inches and that's a lot of wasted pixels.
Heelgrasper, that should gradually increase from the minimum focal distance (usually just a few cm) as you zoom. I suspect it will be just fine.
Fab52
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Re: A DIY Book Scanner In Every Hackerspace /DIY Kit

Post by Fab52 »

Hi Rob,

Code: Select all

So the price differences that you see could be because of different experience levels.
You hit the nail right on the head, the guys who ask 400$ have a brand new scanner (2 weeks ago).....

Code: Select all

The price for the birch plywood is surprisingly low to me, but maybe the guy has a good supplier.
I do check the price for baltic birch and it seem to be the price around here...

Here's a link to a Montreal supplier:
http://www.langevinforest.com/en/produc ... sian-birch

See you

Fab
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Re: A DIY Book Scanner In Every Hackerspace /DIY Kit

Post by daniel_reetz »

Thank you again for sharing back your experiences and insights in Montral, Fab.
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Heelgrasper
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Re: A DIY Book Scanner In Every Hackerspace /DIY Kit

Post by Heelgrasper »

daniel_reetz wrote: Heelgrasper, that should gradually increase from the minimum focal distance (usually just a few cm) as you zoom. I suspect it will be just fine.
I would hope so but I wonder. With my old PowerShot A540 the difference (with macro on) is 5 cm to 30 cm. With the 4x zoom it has that roughly translates to (if evenly spaced):

1x: 5 cm
2x: 13.3 cm
3x: 21.7 cm
4x: 30 cm

I my experience however it jumps right to something close to the 21.7 cm right away. However that would give no problems at all in book scanning.

Same math applied to the new PowerShot models:

1x: 5 cm
2x: 33.75 cm
3x: 62.5 cm
4x: 91.25 cm
5x: 120 cm

If that holds true and the distance between platen and camera is something like 42 cm that would only leave one zoom step to be used and the rest would lead to the book being out of focus.

But of course all this is theory.
---
Jakob Øhlenschlæger
Randers, Denmark

The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there
L. P. Hartley
Fab52
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Re: A DIY Book Scanner In Every Hackerspace /DIY Kit

Post by Fab52 »

Hi guys,

I order the scanner parts today from my local source, base on your dxf file, I should get it in 5 business days, I'll let you know how this guy do the job well or not....

In the meantime I received the ok today to scan the archived of the county council from 1801 to 1904 more or less 20 ledgers of hand writing minutes of the meeting... The girl was happy to tell me I was the first one in the last 20 years who ask for those minutes....Because she know is work, she ask me if I had any problem wearing nitrile glove to touch the book... I was in shock ... NITRILE GLOVE... Museum or rare book departement ask me Cotton Glove or the used of paper stick to turn the page but NITIRLE GLOVE it's gone be the first time..... And she add that I'm lucky because last year they try to get rid of of this ledgers to make space... but nobody want it ... No museum or the official BANQ want it... but they received statement that say they do not have to keep minutes older then 100 years... Is it stupid enough, this is our history and no one have the right to erase it .... I think ... I'm I wrong here ????

My only problem here, all of those ledgers are legal format (11x14").....

I know I'm out of topic here but what is the best way to scan it ????

Thanks for reading me !!!

FAb52
PS. Remenber English is a second language for me... Help me improved ;-))))
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rob
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Re: A DIY Book Scanner In Every Hackerspace /DIY Kit

Post by rob »

Fab52 wrote:Is it stupid enough, this is our history and no one have the right to erase it .... I think ... I'm I wrong here ????
You are doing very good thing! Make sure that you have a place to upload the PDFs when you're done, so other people can access it. If you can't find a place, there is always the Internet Archive, where you can donate scanned works.
Fab52 wrote:My only problem here, all of those ledgers are legal format (11x14").....
Hmm, that might be a problem. It depends on how big the margins in the books are. If there's at least three inches of margin on the outer edge of each page, then this scanner can handle it. If not... then I'm afraid you're going to have to redesign the scanner to be wider. But it's a good thing that you're building the scanner as-is first, so that you can see how it works and what you would need to change to allow larger formats.

Maybe when we've completed the work on this version of the scanner, we can work on a wider format scanner.
The Singularity is Near. ~ http://halfbakedmaker.org ~ Follow me as I build the world's first all-mechanical steam-powered computer.
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