Original ~600pg/hr, very portable scanner now achieving ~900pg-1100pg/hr

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.

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Mohib
Posts: 107
Joined: 05 Apr 2014, 21:15
Number of books owned: 0
Country: Canada

Re: Original ~600pg/hr, very portable scanner now achieving ~900pg-1100pg/hr

Post by Mohib »

Those of you who have followed the evolution of my scanner may recall the original version, before I started using a smart-phone camera, used Daniel Reetz' bike bike brake idea to trigger the shutter of the small point-and-shoot camera I used.

The hardware needed to fasten the shutter trigger mechanism to the camera (below) was rather ugly, heavy and custom built for the camera, although could handle very slight variations in the camera size. It worked but was far from ideal.
original-shutter-trigger-hardware-1
original-shutter-trigger-hardware-1
A couple of years ago I needed to use a better camera (better than the Olympus point-and-shoot and an iPhone I was using) for an old book I needed to scan. I have a Sony RX 100 (first model) but it doesn't have an electronic shutter release option so I started to think about a more flexible and adaptable design of the bike brake shutter trigger hardware. Something that would work on virtually any small camera without modification.

One day I hit on the idea of using the smart-phone tripod adapter (I was using when scanning with a smart-phone) to hold small point-and-shoot cameras instead of using the camera's built in tripod socket. This was a major break-through as the hardware could now be made virtually independent of the camera's size as well as avoid balance problems if the camera's tripod socket was off to one side (as it is in the Olympus, and which caused the camera to flop down under it's own weight unless everything was very tight).

I've been meaning to post what I came up with for a long time but never got around to it. The new assembly, attached to both the Olympus and Sony, is shown in the pictures below.

The only down-side is that the smart-phone tripod adapter does block part of the screen, although it's usually not a real problem as you can usually shuffle it bit this way or that so it so it's not blocking anything important before scanning.

The parts (from ebay but also available at local bike, camera and hardware stores)

- Qty 2 --1/4"Male to 1/4"Female Socket Screw Adapter For Tripod Camera Stand
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/20mm-1-4-Male-t ... SwCJxZ56Jn

- Qty 1 -- 5mm M5 Sidepull Caliper Brake Cable Anchor Bolt Set
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/5mm-Sidepull-Ca ... OSwwrFdJO8~

- Qty 1 -- 5mm M5 Steel Leveling Knurled Thumb Metric Nut
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/M2-M6-Steel-Lev ... w-7jgNhebA

- Qty 1 -- Vastar Universal Smartphone Tripod Adapter
https://www.amazon.com/Vastar-Universal ... 01L3B5PBI/

- Qty 1 -- 1/4-20 bolt, 1/4" long

- Qty 1 -- 1/4" Rubber End Cap
https://www.servocity.com/0-250-1-4-rubber-end-cap

- Qty 2 -- plastic coated wire clothes hangers (preferably one with a heavier gauge wire)

- various washers as needed (see pictures)

The yellow wire clothes hanger is heavier than the white so it stays rigid while the white one flexes to trip the shutter when the bike brake leaver is pulled.

The white wire clothes hanger is pinched together (so it grips the rubber encased bolt that presses the shutter trigger) and then the "1/4 Male to 1/4 Female Socket Screw Adapter" is tightened to hold it pinched.

The key to this set up is the smart-phone tripod adapter which has 2 tripod attachment points. One on the back, where the ball and socket tripod head attaches to and fastens the camera to the scanner post. And a second on the "top" to which the white wire clothes hanger is attached to.

If your camera has a hot-shoe on the top, you can might be able to do away with the smart-phone tripod adapter and use this to hold the white wire clothes hanger (and so the screen on the back of the camera won't be blocked):
https://www.ebay.ca/itm/1-4-3-8-New-Bla ... fMY3RsPRkg

The key to the flexibility and adaptability comes from many aspects of the design, the main ones being:

a) The height of the camera is not too critical as the smart-phone tripod adapter can open up quite a bit and fit most small cameras used for scanning.

b) Almost any shutter trigger placement is ok because the white wire clothes hanger can be rotated to handle off centre triggers. The rotation can be a little extreme, so the bike brake cable can be quite skewed, as seen from the Sony camera, but it doesn't affect the operation.

c) The rubber encased bolt can be slid as needed to position it over the shutter trigger and also its depth can be adjusted so it rests snugly against the shutter release button.

In the pictures with the cameras, I have a 1/4" bolt attaching the yellow wire clothes hanger, but I have since replaced that with the second "1/4 Male to 1/4 Female Socket Screw Adapter". Similarly, the pictures show the 5mm M5 Sidepull Caliper Brake Cable Anchor Bolt holding the cable with a nut and I've since replaced that with the knurled knob. These two changes allow me to setup and fasten the entire assembly without any tools. Both changes can be seen in the first 2 pics of the assembly without the camera below (the barrel nut, in these 2 pics, between the yellow and white wires, just lets me keep all the parts together when I'm not using the trigger hardware).
image1 - 2 wire forms - side - 50%.jpg
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aestetix
Posts: 26
Joined: 06 Sep 2021, 13:47
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Country: United Kingdom

Re: Original ~600pg/hr, very portable scanner now achieving ~900pg-1100pg/hr

Post by aestetix »

Thanks for posting all this information, it's very interesting. I am thinking about building something similar myself.

Do you think a hinge would help? I mean add a hinge to the right hand side of the glass and a base board, so you can easily lift the glass and put it down again without it moving out of position. If the camera arm was mounted to the same base board it would automatically position the book in the right place to be photographed.

Or maybe I'm over-complicating things.

Edit: One other thing, about the pipe. Looks like 20mm, is that right? I can get it in glossy black but I wonder if spraying it matte might reduce reflections.
dpc
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Joined: 01 Apr 2011, 18:05
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Location: Issaquah, WA

Re: Original ~600pg/hr, very portable scanner now achieving ~900pg-1100pg/hr

Post by dpc »

One other thing, about the pipe. Looks like 20mm, is that right? I can get it in glossy black but I wonder if spraying it matte might reduce reflections.

You can take some fine sandpaper or steel wool and it will knock the sheen off of a gloss finish. And even if you try it and don't like the way that looks, it's good prep for getting your matte paint to stick.
daneto
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Joined: 26 Dec 2021, 20:04
E-book readers owned: Amazon Kindle 2021
Number of books owned: 300
Country: Brazil

Re: Original ~600pg/hr, very portable scanner now achieving ~900pg-1100pg/hr

Post by daneto »

Hello, everyone!
First of all, great forum. I'm reading posts since a year from now, and finally have registered to participate. Well, I'd like to build Mohib's model, which I found very smart and reasonable to build.
I speak from Brazil and noticed that there are other users from here too. Have anyone built this model, and could translate the pieces names? Or - better - could build it for me? (Of course, I would pay for the service.)
Thank you, Mohib and all for such great contributions.
Best regards.
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Mohib
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Country: Canada

Re: Original ~600pg/hr, very portable scanner now achieving ~900pg-1100pg/hr

Post by Mohib »

daneto wrote: 27 Dec 2021, 12:35 Well, I'd like to build Mohib's model, which I found very smart and reasonable to build.... Thank you, Mohib and all for such great contributions.
Thanks. Did you find the plans I posted? It has pictures of all the pieces needed which should make it easier to figure out what you need.
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Mohib
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Re: Original ~600pg/hr, very portable scanner now achieving ~900pg-1100pg/hr

Post by Mohib »

Here is version 2.4.4 of the "Image scaling and left+right numbering" script I wrote. It fixes a few bugs I ran into in v2.4, which was the last I posted a while back.

; V2.4.2
; -- Changed -- For multiprocessor, run gm.exe at normal priority so machine doesn't lock up while it processes the files
; -- Changed -- For multiprocessor, added a task count and only allow 8 images to be processed at a time (and wait until they are done before doing 8 more). Otherwise, on Windows 10 machine locks up while it processes all the tasks, even though the main window has gone, as the tasks are queued up and it can take a while to finish (which it does eventually).
;
; V2.4.3
; -- Bug fix -- Left/Right scaling was not working.
; -- Changed -- Moved multiprocessor wait till after progress bar is updated and added multiprocessor wait before ending a directory so it's all done before we start a new one or exit program
;
; V2.4.4
; -- Bug fix -- Removed Escape key aborting because if you pressed it in another application, it aborted this script first
;
User avatar
Mohib
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Country: Canada

Re: Original ~600pg/hr, very portable scanner now achieving ~900pg-1100pg/hr

Post by Mohib »

aestetix wrote: 07 Sep 2021, 04:10 Do you think a hinge would help? I mean add a hinge to the right hand side of the glass and a base board, so you can easily lift the glass and put it down again without it moving out of position. If the camera arm was mounted to the same base board it would automatically position the book in the right place to be photographed.

Or maybe I'm over-complicating things.
I don't think the hinge will help. Firstly it will have to rise and fall with the thickness of the book, if I'm correctly understanding what you have in mind, so it will be quite complex. The simplicity of the design, as I have it, is what makes it very smooth and fluid to use (as you can see in the video). Adding pieces to "constrain" the position of the platen I think will break the fluidity and slow the scanning process down.
aestetix wrote: 07 Sep 2021, 04:10 Edit: One other thing, about the pipe. Looks like 20mm, is that right?
The platen handle (white pipes) are 1/2" schedule 40 pipe (see page 5 of the construction instructions).
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