Preassembled bookscanner available?

[crazyandroid]

Hi there, I am a business grad student and therefore don't really have the tools to do this kind of stuff myself; however, at the same time I am tired of lugging 8-10 textbooks around with me every day because I can't find digital copies of them anywhere. I would love to have one of these scanners so that I could create my own ebooks to put on my ereader and take to class with me, but then still have the hard copies to keep at home. The goal here is portability, not piracy. I was wondering if anyone had a preassembled scanner or a kit of precut/drilled pieces that I could put together for a reasonable price. I live in Texas, so shipping costs are also something we will have to keep in mind. If you have something to offer, PM me and I will get back to you ASAP.

Thanks!

- Matt -

[bea]

Hi there, I am a business grad student and therefore don't really have the tools to do this kind of stuff myself; however, at the same time I am tired of lugging 8-10 textbooks around with me every day because I can't find digital copies of them anywhere. I would love to have one of these scanners so that I could create my own ebooks to put on my ereader and take to class with me, but then still have the hard copies to keep at home. The goal here is portability, not piracy. I was wondering if anyone had a preassembled scanner or a kit of precut/drilled pieces that I could put together for a reasonable price. I live in Texas, so shipping costs are also something we will have to keep in mind. If you have something to offer, PM me and I will get back to you ASAP.

Thanks!

- Matt -

I'm also looking for a precut/drilled pieces. Have you had any luck?

[rob]

Matt, Bea,

The best we have so far is a place to buy the cut parts, and a nearly-complete list of hardware. We're busily trying to put together the next version of the scanner, and at that time I think we're going to start offering full kits, with all hardware, for sale.

--Rob

[bea]

Thanks Rob. I am going to be keeping up with the thread that shows someone building one of those kits.

[BeanBagKing]

Same, I'm looking forward to a full kit.

[goldbuyer59]

Hello Everyone,
I know I am new here but come on. I have seen several posts of kits, preassebled bookscanners and it's all talk with not sites to look as the kits, no prices on what they will run, just a bunch of hot air with no end results. Get off the pot and give me something to look at and a price or at least a site where I can buy one from. Talk is cheap and equipment costs Gee I feel as though I'm in the empty idea's and promises room. I have found two really good kits almost ready for production and both seemed to abandon their projects. The neatest one was from Ion and they led people on for 4 months and just came up with the lame excuse they scrapped the project because of quality problems. Hell the time to figue that out isn't after you've had it on the market advertised for a few months and took people's money and hopes. Bunch of real jerks and I'll never buy anything from their company. And then there's the Book Liverator. Great product, great price and they seemed to have just vanished along with their idea. What is it that one can't find a decent ktt at a decent prcie?

Charles

[daniel_reetz]

Hello Everyone,
Get off the pot and give me something to look at and a price or at least a site where I can buy one from. Talk is cheap and equipment costs Gee I feel as though I'm in the empty idea's and promises room.
Charles

Your question is important, and I always try to be respectful here, so I am going to say this as nicely as I possibly can.

Empty promises? Those are some pretty harsh words. First off, this is Do It Yourself Book Scanner. We've had free software and free plans available to you, and to the entire world, since 2009. And every single day since this site has launched, people here have been actively developing and improving the entire system, free of charge to you. Where have you been? Over a thousand people all donated their work to the public good. From the goodness of their hearts and their willingness to share. Frankly they owe you nothing. This is DIY. You can do it yourself. Everything you need is here.

About Doing It Yourself -- I practice what I preach. Personally, in the last six months, I have invested over $10,000 of my money, and countless hours - including six straight months of work in the San Francisco area - some of the hardest and worst months I've ever lived - developing a new scanner design that can be mass produced. I didn't do this because I think there's a lot of money in it. I don't think there is. I did it because SOMEONE needs to do it, and frankly, everyone else has done it wrong.

Building a book scanner is hard. That is why the other projects failed. They did it wrong. I never speak badly of other projects, as a matter of policy, but the Booksaver/BookRPR designs both had serious design flaws that were not things you could solve in software. They failed because they pointed the cameras straight at the glass which requires colinear illumination and causes glare, and their camera supports caused shadows on the page. End of story.

Now you're upset because you can't buy anything. Well, I too am bothered by this situation, but I'm not complaining. I am actively working on a design that anyone can reproduce if they are so motivated. Dozens of other people are contributing, too. And I'm working on selling kits. And I am 100% committed to doing it CORRECTLY. The scanner we are currently developing is the culmination of every great idea shared here. I will not release some half-assed thing that sucks. Sorry, I won't. It takes time to make nice things and to make them work well. And you know what? The moment you start selling things, people get a serious sense of entitlement. And it affects my legal representation. And my role here. And frankly, I'm concerned about how selling things will affect us as a community even as I move forward in selling a kit.

I've been working on this project for three straight years. I've traveled the world building and installing these things and giving speeches and hearing a million zillion super compelling truly awesome stories about what people are going to do with their book scanners. During a very dark time in my life, this community and that energy was all that kept me alive. I know there's a need for it that is currently unaddressed. I've seen it firsthand. And I know not everyone can build a scanner. And I know that in a late-capitalist society like ours, selling something means a kind of power and legitimacy that we haven't enjoyed yet. So I can see that another level is launching this thing "commercially" - whatever that means. It's certainly not going to look like most "commercial" projects. But I'm also fine with taking the time there - another six months on my three years of solid work is, frankly, nothing. And about a million times more important to me than any money or sale is to do right by this community. These are their ideas, after all.

I've got skin in this game. You want a kit to come faster? Cut a copy and test it. Document the assembly. Help. But cut the complaints. To be clear, there's no problem between us. You are most welcome here and I look forward to the day that I can sell you a kit. But I need you to see my perspective and understand why words like "empty promises" are not acceptable here.

[goldbuyer59]

Hello Daniel,
First off, thanks for the reply. Second, thanks for explaining to me what happened with the other guys not being able to deliver a kit. Third, thanks for being so understanding. I have been looking for a kit since before Christmas and I keep running into brick walls. I know I am not the only one having these problems and sometimes I get over excited. I just want to find something that doesn't weigh a hundred pounds and take up a large table. I loved the size of both of the kits I mentioned and would love to have something that size. I would like to thank you for this wonderful site and ask for some help. I would really like to talk to you or anyone who has been successful in building a small version. I also want to point out I never said anything about the creators of the Book Liberator but I am thoroughly bent at Ion and would never buy anything from them because of their marketing tactics. Just me but you don't take money from people promising a product before you test and get their hopes up and pull the rug right out from under their feet. As for the rest of your comments I will watch what I say and be more understanding towards others. I may have to try to buy something from somewhere and hope you and other can and will help. Again thanks for the reply and hope to hear back from you again soon.

Charles

[gnome]

It's fantastic to see that this community and interest in DIY book scanning has grown so much since 2009 (when I posted this topic). I also see that many feature enhancements, performance improvements, and design refinements have been made to the original book scanner. Awesome work and congratulations to all involved!

In the interim I had made the mistake of investing in an overpriced, poorly performing, unreliable, and now broken Plustek OpticBook A300 (http://plustek.com/usa/products/opticbo ... cbook-a300). For this reason, and four years since I first inquired about a ready-to-build book scanner, I'm still interested in purchasing one.

So it's great to learn that our community leader and project founder, Mr. Reetz, is offering assemble-yourself book scanner kits through a dedicated diybookscanner.com store (http://diybookscanner.myshopify.com/pro ... canner-kit).

At the moment of typing, however, the page at the above URL indicates kits are "sold out" and currently in production.

What is the ETA for when the in-production kits will be made available for purchase?

Thanks for reading!

[daniel_reetz]

I'm producing them continuously. They go in stock every week - I have another batch of 8 on the way by this weekend. Thanks for your continued interest!

Edit: I have another batch in stock now, 3/16/2013, and more on the way.