The reason I moved from hinge to sliding in the "3rd gen" scanner was simply for space issues. Slides lay flat and take up little space; I couldn't make the hinge do the same in such a short time. Also, the hinged system would have bumped into my lighting setup because the front of the mechanism lifts so high (hinged setups need more headroom, in other words).cratylus wrote: Can anybody tell me what the virtues/vices are of the hinge vs. vertical/sliding vs. whatever else platen systems are? Why Dan, for instance, did you move away from your original hinged raising system?
Joel
Personally, I still really like the hinged mechanism and I think it is appropriate for a wide range of builds. The only downside is really that the back edge of the "V" could potentially bite into a book as it comes down (but I never, ever had this problem even after scanning dozens of books). On scanners without toolbox liner or other non-slip material, there is a slight tendency to nudge the book toward the column side of the scanner. But again, I really think that the hinge design represents a dead-simple construction case and a good way to go for many scanner designs. Also, it's definitely cheaper than drawer slides.