Lightweight and cheap version

[AlexOSD]

Hey everyone,

First time posting, long time reader

Since the apparent demise of the ION Book Saver, I've been thinking of a lightweight scanner based on that principle.

I'm an industrial designer and good with 3D but I haven't began modelling my idea yet because I need to do some brainstorming first, regarding some difficulties.

Has anyone considered using GoPro cameras? They're not the cheapest choice for a cheap version, but they are light at 167g with battery, and a mounting system already exists.
I do think it would be annoying having to lift a whole setup by hand every page turn, like the ION proposed, but I thought up a system to lift the setup by a lever, much like the Daniel is using on his unit,
anchored at the back, using bearings and rotating up and back to allow page turn, however I would like to keep it light and simple so it can be disassembled and transported easily.

I did notice GoPro cameras have fisheye lens, but there are simple replacements for that, and I haven't used one at close distances (40-60cm or so) to see how much it would distort a text capture.
Does anyone have one here and could give it a go?

I've been searching everywhere for a way to use a remote shutter for any design I come up with.
For now, the bike-brake solution from Daniel's design seems to work out cheapest and most efficient.
The simplest solution I could [i][u]think of[i][u] was using a Canon wired remote shutter trigger with a variety of 2.5mm and 3.5mm adapters and Y cables so it would hopefully trigger two cameras, but that would require two Canon cameras and they're neither cheap nor light. GoPro is also on the verge of launching a wireless remote, but I don't think that would work with two cameras. If it could, it would be heaven. I've seen wiring schemes on the web for building your own GoPro remote, but I'd really like to keep this simple so anyone can make one easily, disassemble it and carry it anywhere.


Thoughts anyone?

Oh, and thanks for everyone's time and effort so far. It's motivating to see what we can do with a common goal. Keep it up!

[vitorio]

Has anyone considered using GoPro cameras? They're not the cheapest choice for a cheap version, but they are light at 167g with battery, and a mounting system already exists.

The older models are only 5MP, and the new one is $300 for 11MP. All regular point-and-shoot cameras have a mounting system: the standard screw tripod mount thing. I don't see the benefit for the price.

That said, a couple of friends have GoPros, I could probably borrow one to try as-is at some point.

I feel like the Ion design was problematic for high-quality shots in a room with ambient light. I feel like the ideal "compact" design is a pyramid, platen on the top that you place the book down onto, with the cameras and light source in a fixed position on the inside, pointing up and out, and your blackout tent can just be a flat canvas draped across the top.

But, one thing at a time.

[AlexOSD]

Good points. I was thinking of the GoPro's clip-on rail attachment for an easy assembly, because the alternative would be finding and buying the screw, drilling in the right angle and fitting, and if you got it wrong, oh well... adapting a design always gives me more problems than coming up with something new.

Standard rail mounts will do, such as these that go for $20:



Cheap 12mp cameras are also $100 or so and weigh 120-130g.

I AM thinking of cheapness here: it's not everyone that can afford a couple of DSLRs. If the goal is to have these scanners everywhere they're needed, they need to be cheap.

My idea is to use off-the-shelf materials that can be found anywhere and that would require a minimum of fitting, for ease of assembly, and adjustable camera mounts would compensate for any out-of-alignment assembly: the important would be to have the platen well fit, everything above it doesn't need to be 100% aligned, since you can correct the camera's position. I'm also thinking hinges at the back, between the book stand and the platen. They are not hard to find, and lift hinges
such as the picture below often incorporate springs, so it make it even easier to compensate for the setup's weight when lifting, perhaps even allowing for it to spring up by itself and making it necessary to push down, thus pressing the platen.


I'm also thinking about those rechargeable LED lamps that can be used in closets and wardrobes... LED is not ideal, but again, cheap and close enough.

About the inverted pyramid, I don't know,it seems that lifting the book everytime you need to turn a page is pretty much the same as lifting the whole assembly. You would either have to stand up during the whole process or have it set up on a lower surface so you can sit down. Plus handling the entire book that many times adds to the risk of dropping it or bending pages.

I'll get on with the drawings asap, maybe I got something here.

[daniel_reetz]

I have one of the new gopros, and I have worked extensively with the old ones. While it is possible to replace the lens, it is also quite common to get dust on the sensor during the process, and the sealing glue that holds the lens in place can easily rip out the threads in the existing mount. In addition, the replacement lenses cost me ~40 each, so it is not much of a bargain when added to the original price. To externally trigger a gopro, you need to either physically press the button or you need to access the Hero Bus using a special connector that you have to hand-modify.

The fisheye lens design means that the image from each camera has non-uniform resolution across the field. Stuff in the center is resolved with more pixels than stuff at the edges. For these reasons, the GoPro is not well suited to book scanning.

[AlexOSD]

Well,

here it is

It's not much, but it's entirely off the shelf from hardware stores,

the main structure is made of two Mottez bicycle wall hooks, linked together by three regular 1 meter aluminium tubes, plus one across for rigidity,
held by a few wall mounts for pipes which fit oh-so-neatly in the hooks' holes using the supplied screw plugs.
The wall hook is shorter on one side, which makes it ideal to set up any length and angle of platten I might want.
It's resizable by sliding along the tubes and multiple holes can be drilled on the platten to allow an angle to be maintained while increasing the width.

It's very easily rocked backwards to allow for page turn, since it's rounded in the back, and when brought again forward it will rest on the book.

Two bicycle camera mounts are placed on the main structure and allow multi-directional easy positioning,

I picked up two Osram battery powered LED bars to test, and I know LEDs are not the best solution, however I was shooting for absolute portability.

This picture shows the L brackets which will attach to the platten. The screw is a bit too long since I hadn't bought a smaller one. I'll post specs on all parts and pieces on my next update.


For the platten I had another portability idea, and I'm aware of the problems involved. I'll be using two plexiglass sheets, joined by some very small hinges, painted white and secured by a strong adhesive tape. This will obviously be in the way of double page content, but a platten isn't exactly the most portable part of any scanner, and my main goal is to be able to travel and scan my books overseas so I won't need to have all of them shipped.

For the cover, the pipe mounts allow me to replace the screw, so I can pretty much buy a screw bar, cut to any height, mount it pointing up and work from there. Or just throw it over the whole thing as it is, the pipe's ends go over the end of the structure, so any fabric won't interefere, plus with LEDs there's no heating problem.

For the trigger, I'm still trying to find in my bookmarks a bicycle-brake trigger that I found online, but no luck so far...



Suggestions? Hate it? Love it? Let me know.

[daniel_reetz]

Way interesting! Can you share a pic that shows it mounting a book?

[AlexOSD]

As soon as I can cut the bloody plexiglass...

EDIT: OH sweet baby jesus, I found it after a MONTH of googling and not-so-thorough-bookmark-browsing-since-it-wasn't-in-english:
I like this one because it's already assembled

http://www.hama.de/portal/picType*awd/action*2599/articleId*115098?picURL=%2Fbilder%2F00005%2Fawd%2F00005345awd.jpg#picture

[AlexOSD]

Daniel, your sole interest motivated me to keep working on it
Immeasurable thanks
Went out and got a decent cutter. For future units I will be using an online shop that cuts to measure...

The pictures are horrible, I have no proper lighting and since I've been working on spare time, pulling out the Canon for decent shots is a waste of time at this point.

Mounted the lighting - looks like it's NOT going to work,.. There's still protective film on the lower side of the plexiglass that could be causing some glare, but from my experience, uncovered leds are just glare machines. Plus not enough luminosity. We'll see...

I haven't drilled the platten to attach it properly, so it was just a proof-of-concept assembly. I'm thinking of creating a channel so I will have infinite adjustments with a bolt, nut and washer instead of separate holes.
(Thanks Burton's snowboards' ICS mounting system for that idea).

But the hinges with strong double-sided tape idea worked wonders. This next picture shows it mounted, with only two very small hinges (that I shall paint white), which left a small gap in the center due to flexing of the 2mm plexiglass, but it doesn't flex when resting on the book, and it's not even mounted on the structure yet, so it might work, or it just might require a 3mm sheet to reduce flexing. It's absolutely invisible when the picture is taken, as seen two pictures up. The book I took a picture of is of a 10"x10" book (~26x26cm), and for the look of it, it could handle at least 10cm/4" more without getting in the way. For the dog and pony show, the platten folds flat..

It's looking fairly functional. What I'm gonna have to work on is the book support system, something foldable and adjustable as the platten. A car-hood-stick system with hinges like the platten just came to mind... we'll see

That's it for now... I really haven't reviewed your project in depth to see if I can adapt anything from it, I just wanted something very cheap and portable to get back at ION.
Still no parts list on this post, I'll get to it... the really bad thing about this is that the two Mottez hooks I used can't be found anywhere anymore, I bought them earlier this year, but so far, nothing.
I will be putting a small CNC on my soon-to-be-ready-office-studio-shop, so perhaps cutting a wood version with a round edge to allow for the back-and-forth rocking might be the only way to replicate it...