A DIY Book Scanner In Every Hackerspace /DIY Kit

[ateeq85]

I appreciate the answers and your patience with my questions I guess a part of building things is having to figure things out on your own a large portion of the time.

[fitterman]

I've looked online everywhere i could for a seatpost that looks like yours but i didn't find one. what else can be used with the break lever that will fit into the dimensions that were cut out meant for the handle and what should the dimensions of the handle be. is there anyway you can provide more info on the portion of the scanner with the mechanical trigger more of a break down of it it seems to be a few things going on a rubber band and how is the bowden cable working it seems to be squeezed tightly between those two pieces of wood.

Regarding the seat post, I wonder if it would be better to use a piece of dowel that's a standard diameter. I see that bike handlebars are generally either 1" or 1-1/4" diameter. I've bought a dual-control brake but am not at home at the moment so I can't measure which diameter it was intended to work with.

I'm personally trying to figure out how I can turn the brake into something that can be operated by foot, like a pedal. That'd get rid of the problem of worrying about left- or right-handed operation. It woud also mean one less piece to mount on the arm and that the arm would become a much simpler piece to cut. Since I've never operated one of these scanners, I'm not sure if this is good idea or not. Daniel, any opinions?

[daniel_reetz]

seems totally reasonable to me - except you'll want to be careful not to apply too much pressure to your camera buttons with your foot. Perhaps just limiting the travel will be enough. I don't know if you even need the bike-brake cable to do it - just a hinged pedal and a string may be enough.

You could also consider rotating the rig so the current "handle" is on the back. Then you could put a big treadle on it and lift the book with your foot instead of your arm.

[GaryK]

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[jck57]

The rope thing to hold in the glass works great, but not with 1/8" rope. It was a little too loose with the 1/4" slot.

I went to Lowes and found some 5/32" rope which works perfectly. Less that $3.00.

It allows the glass to slide in the groove and holds it very securely.

rope.JPG

Great idea, Gary. Simple, cheap, and it works.

[qfe0]

Any idea what the wattage is on the light you're using with this setup? I just flipped on the 250 watt halogen work light I mounted to book scanner and it started smoking maybe 60 seconds in. I pulled off the cover from my lamp, put the UV glass directly against the painted wood and screwed everything down. Is that too much wattage? Am I just doing it wrong? Should there be more thermal insulation and/or a heat sync involved?

Thanks,
Doug

Edit: Alrighty, took the time to read the 4 page instruction manual that came with the light. I'm definitely doing it wrong. It's not supposed to be used indoors, or within 18" of flammable things, like wood. I think, I'll look into different lighting.

[ateeq85]

The kind of light used in the scanner build is a led floodlight I dont know how many watts dans is but I bougt mines off of eBay in the $20-30 range. I went with a u.s seller. mines arrived with no cord insert just three wires so me and a friend went to home depot with the led light and got a cord insert i don't know the exact name for it here's a link for what I'm talking about http://www.hardwareandtools.com/Grounde ... -125-Volt/. My friend hooked the wires up in it and it works fine.

since the cord is so short I might just buy an extension cord with a light roller switch on it to flick it on and off http://www.wwhardware.com/specialty-lig ... 211-8.html. I Hope this is some help.

[daniel_reetz]

thanks Ateeq85, for reference the green wire = ground/earth, the white wire = neutral, and the black wire = hot. If you cut a computer-style power cord open, the wires are also green, white, and black, and it is possible to solder them together and have things work.

Lighting, yeah, this kind of halogen light is a hazard:

worklight.jpg (124.19 KiB) Viewed 890 times

This kind of halogen light is OK:

outdoor_halogen.jpg (3.02 KiB) Viewed 890 times

[fitterman]

Daniel, since that lamp has an E-27 ("normal") base, why not go with something like a cheap metal reflector like this http://www.amazon.com/Voltec-08-00177-2-Inch-6-Foot-Aluminum/dp/B004IK9I2E/ref=sr_1_9 or http://www.amazon.com/Voltec-08-00178-2-Inch-6-Foot-Aluminum/dp/B004IK9I38/ref=sr_1_3. A 4-pack costs of either size costs under $15 and the clamp can be easily removed. Some small tabs could secure the reflector to the lighting module. They're rated for bulbs up to 100W.

[cfmorrill]

A couple of thoughts:

Am also interested in simply cutting it all out by hand. I do this sort of thing a lot. You need a full size drawing of the part/parts to be made. Then get yourself a can of spray adhesive. Spray the plywood only. That way if things don't work out when you gently lay the drawing down on the plywood, you can gently peel it back up again to have another go. I'd imagine you can email Daniel's .dxf file to kinkos/fedex, whatever the heck they call themselves now and get a set of drawings. I'd cut the drawings and a sheet of plywood up so you're only pasting a part or two down on smaller piece of plywood at a time. Most towns also have a place that will reproduce blueprints and you might get your prints from them.

I also suspect that when the design settles down a bit it would be easier to reproduce a couple of kits of parts and then loan them out to people to reproduce themselves by hand. You rent a kit of parts out for a couple of weeks at a few bucks and then get them back. They can then get sent on to the next person, sort of like the dvd rental model. It's a heck of a lot easier to come up with a sabersaw and a router with a flush trim bit than it is to get cnc time. Besides, a whole lot of businesses like ours end up pitching scraps of plywood on a regular basis. I don't want to build the frame for a small amount of money, I want to build it for nearly nothing. The cameras and the computer are going to cost me and like much of america I'm busted.

Anyone around Charlottesville, Virginia?

Charles Morrill