DIY Book Scanne near Houston?

[Squid32]

Very interested in obtaining a book scanner from someone near Houston TX (Webster or Friendswood, to be exact) ... willing to pay someone to assemble the Reetz version. BTW, it is a very ingenious design and will suit my needs perfectly. I am a retired teacher and instructor and will be interested in any offers. Thanks for your time. I will be watching this forum for any and all answers.

[vitorio]

Forum member GaryK is iterating on the new build right now. He's in Tyler, TX, which looks to be about equidistant from Houston as it is from Austin, where I am...

[Squid32]

Thanks for the note ... I am familiar with Tyler. I will check this out later today. Thanks again!

[vagabond]

Hi,

I live in Houston, TX and have built a standard version. I have used it to scan several books so far and it works great. Let me know if you are willing to buy it, and how much. It comes without lamps (i just used clamp on lights from home depot like in the standard build thread), cameras, and remote shutter ( I could build one for you for some cash ).

[bea]

Very interested in obtaining a book scanner from someone near Houston TX (Webster or Friendswood, to be exact) ... willing to pay someone to assemble the Reetz version. BTW, it is a very ingenious design and will suit my needs perfectly. I am a retired teacher and instructor and will be interested in any offers. Thanks for your time. I will be watching this forum for any and all answers.

Have you had any luck finding someone?

[bea]

Hi,

I live in Houston, TX and have built a standard version. I have used it to scan several books so far and it works great. Let me know if you are willing to buy it, and how much. It comes without lamps (i just used clamp on lights from home depot like in the standard build thread), cameras, and remote shutter ( I could build one for you for some cash ).

Do you have some pics or a vid?

[JDW]

Hi,

I live in Houston, TX and have built a standard version. I have used it to scan several books so far and it works great. Let me know if you are willing to buy it, and how much. It comes without lamps (i just used clamp on lights from home depot like in the standard build thread), cameras, and remote shutter ( I could build one for you for some cash ).

Hi, vagabond. I live in Houston and am interested in buying the setup you mention but have no idea what a fair price is to offer you. If your rig is still available, may I make arrangements with you to see it in person? Thanks.

[goldbuyer59]

Hello Everyone,
I have a decent question? I have found 2 great ideas for portable book scanners. One is from Ion call the Book Saver and the other is called the Book Liberator. Both of these models just vanished right before they were supposed to be released. Are these just A-Holes teasing us with something they know we need or is there some copyright laws that keep these units from being released. I am curious as I really need a book scanner because I am dyslexic and have trouble sitting around reading. I usually have to by e-books that I have to copy page at a time into a text to voice program because they are locked. I want to be free and copy my school books so I can keep up my good grades. Can someone please answer this question and tell me where I can buy a kit so I can make a book scanner. Please.

Charles

[Heelgrasper]

Hello Everyone,
I have a decent question? I have found 2 great ideas for portable book scanners. One is from Ion call the Book Saver and the other is called the Book Liberator. Both of these models just vanished right before they were supposed to be released. Are these just A-Holes teasing us with something they know we need or is there some copyright laws that keep these units from being released. I am curious as I really need a book scanner because I am dyslexic and have trouble sitting around reading. I usually have to by e-books that I have to copy page at a time into a text to voice program because they are locked. I want to be free and copy my school books so I can keep up my good grades. Can someone please answer this question and tell me where I can buy a kit so I can make a book scanner. Please.

Charles

Dear Charles

I've seen you ask basicly the same question in several threads now but so far I haven't seen anyone try to answer it. So now I'll attempt even though I'm quite new to this whole book scanning thing. English is my second language and in combination with cultural differences I know my communication often comes across as bit insulting. That is in no way intended but if it happens here: I'm sorry.

Even after reading several posts from you, I'm still not sure where you live. This time you posted in thread about the Houston area, another time you posted the same in a thread about Europe. It's pretty hard for people to help you when they have no clue where you live. For all I know there could be a guy two streets down from you who would let you use his scanner. Likewise it's hard to tell where you could buy stuff when we don't even know what continent you're on.

This forum is dedicated to people making their own scanners. That can be done very simply like here: http://www.instructables.com/id/Bargain-Price-Book-Scanner-From-A-Cardboard-Box/. Basicly that models gives you the same output as you would get from every other scanner build here and the most complicated part of the build is to cut a cardboard box in two. Another option is to buy something like the kits here: http://www.ponoko.com/showroom/search?query=book+scanner&category=&x=0&y=0 . It's a step up from the cardboard box model but shouldn't be to complicated to put together.

You could also use a flad bed scanner. That is just slow but you won't have to build anything at all.

Either way you will still have to process the images you get. There's plenty about that in the software section.

If that's still to complicated there's always the option of buying a commercial made book scanner with custom made software. Depending on the design they cost from under 1,000 US$ to around 100,000 US$ as far as I know. Again, you've said several times that you want to buy one but never mentioned a price range. That could be seen as an open invitation to suggest a BookDrive Pro or a ScanRobot 2.0 MDS.

Basicly: Define what you're looking for. If it's parts to build a scanner you might find someone here who could help with the CNC work for the Hackerspace/DIY Kit model but no reason you shouldn't just start with the cardboard box model. If you're looking for something where you take it out of the box, plug it in, put your book in and get an ebook out you should look at the commercial solutions.

[goldbuyer59]

Hello and thanks for the reply,
First off let me say I don't consider your reply rude at all. Now I'll answer your questions. First I live very close to Houston, Texas. Second I posted in the Europe thread as I seen a post about a kit for sale over there and never found the actual kit or the price. As for the price both kits I mentioned were between $170.00 to $300.00 dollars and nicely built. I fix computers for a living not design things so I want to buy a kit with everything in it. The book Liberator I found out there was about a neat thing and included software and two cameras for around $300.00. I just need something and sorry for the confusion.

Charles