A Scanner for books with text VERY close to the gutter.

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.

Moderator: peterZ

JThomas
Posts: 14
Joined: 31 Mar 2012, 01:00
E-book readers owned: nook
Number of books owned: 1000
Country: USA

Re: A Scanner for books with text VERY close to the gutter.

Post by JThomas »

Well, it took a while but I got all 2751 pages scanned and the scanner worked great through the entire process.
User avatar
rob
Posts: 773
Joined: 03 Jun 2009, 13:50
E-book readers owned: iRex iLiad, Kindle 2
Number of books owned: 4000
Country: United States
Location: Maryland, United States
Contact:

Re: A Scanner for books with text VERY close to the gutter.

Post by rob »

That is awesome! How long did it take you to train FineReader for this? The reason I ask is that I tried training FineReader for an English-Latin dictionary that had accented characters plus greek letters, and after going through several pages of long and boring work, the thing couldn't tell the difference between S and s.

After training, modulo the S/s problem, it would get the pages I trained correct... and then fall down completely on the pages I didn't train. Presumably FineReader needs many more pages to train on, but it's so FUCKING BORING.
The Singularity is Near. ~ http://halfbakedmaker.org ~ Follow me as I build the world's first all-mechanical steam-powered computer.
smartechs
Posts: 10
Joined: 17 Jun 2009, 21:44

Re: A Scanner for books with text VERY close to the gutter.

Post by smartechs »

That's an excellent build, Nice and Simple. Would you mind sharing pics from the camera back side. Just want to see what you used for the hinge. And also from the bottom glass side. What did you use to make the groove in the side panels? Thanks.
JThomas
Posts: 14
Joined: 31 Mar 2012, 01:00
E-book readers owned: nook
Number of books owned: 1000
Country: USA

Re: A Scanner for books with text VERY close to the gutter.

Post by JThomas »

rob wrote:That is awesome! How long did it take you to train FineReader for this? The reason I ask is that I tried training FineReader for an English-Latin dictionary that had accented characters plus greek letters, and after going through several pages of long and boring work, the thing couldn't tell the difference between S and s.

After training, modulo the S/s problem, it would get the pages I trained correct... and then fall down completely on the pages I didn't train. Presumably FineReader needs many more pages to train on, but it's so FUCKING BORING.
I never said I had ORC'd them all. I'm still working on it. You are right, it's boring has hell. I find that if I do the training on the parts it's having trouble with, it works better.
There are two character pairs the s & f and the u & n that I I'll probably have to read every page to double check it.
smartechs wrote:That's an excellent build, Nice and Simple. Would you mind sharing pics from the camera back side. Just want to see what you used for the hinge. And also from the bottom glass side. What did you use to make the groove in the side panels? Thanks.
I just used common 3 1/2" door hinges for the pivot attached to the side facing the glass. Nothing critical about it.
I used a table saw for the 3 sided frame surrounding the glass. A little silicone at the bottom corners to hold it all together.
smartechs
Posts: 10
Joined: 17 Jun 2009, 21:44

Re: A Scanner for books with text VERY close to the gutter.

Post by smartechs »

Thanks for the details.
JThomas
Posts: 14
Joined: 31 Mar 2012, 01:00
E-book readers owned: nook
Number of books owned: 1000
Country: USA

Re: A Scanner for books with text VERY close to the gutter.

Post by JThomas »

smartechs wrote:Thanks for the details.
No problem.

Are you planning on building one?
smartechs
Posts: 10
Joined: 17 Jun 2009, 21:44

Re: A Scanner for books with text VERY close to the gutter.

Post by smartechs »

Dear Jthomas,

I am sorry I wasn't able to reply back to your message, its been a busy month and never got a chance to check the website. I did make one, thanks to you. A larger version of it. My platen size is 25"x20", which I used to digitize a 1950 page manuscript. It worked perfectly for it. I will try to post a picture. Thanks again.
Devilfox
Posts: 1
Joined: 26 May 2013, 07:30
Number of books owned: 0
Country: Deutschland

Re: A Scanner for books with text VERY close to the gutter.

Post by Devilfox »

I know, this threat is OLD, but maybe I can get a response :-)
As I want to build a scanner very similar to the one Jthomas built I have some questions:

Which improvements have you done till now? What about the lighting?

Last but not least: Are you still using it or do you have a new model, which is somehow better than the old type?

Hope I get an answer :-)

Regards,


Jakob
MJM
Posts: 3
Joined: 08 Aug 2015, 07:56
Number of books owned: 0
Country: France

Re: A Scanner for books with text VERY close to the gutter.

Post by MJM »

These images of the model reminds me of the Quartz model I see.

With it you can get more text when the text is too close to the gutter, but the tricky part of it is scanning without harming the book, and most of them will be if they're opened more than 90º.

In any case, one key is to get the pages to be flatten from the book spine itself, so flattening the text with a glass is not enough, you must get the entire book in a position where the pages block is not turned or curled at any point. You make this at the same moment you choose the angle of scanning. Its the way to do it specially if you want to OCR the text lated, in order to avoid distorsions.

With this kind of 'unilateral' preset you will want to to all the left pages before going for the right ones. That kind of book are the slower to scan.
Konos93a
Posts: 195
Joined: 19 Sep 2016, 10:00
E-book readers owned: kobo aura,kindle 1,kindle pw3,pocketbook inkpad 2
Number of books owned: 3000
Country: greece

Re: A Scanner for books with text VERY close to the gutter.

Post by Konos93a »

if this thread is still active has anybody the dimensions of this design?
Post Reply