Updated Portable Scanning Rig

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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Moonboy242
Posts: 56
Joined: 22 Aug 2010, 18:09
E-book readers owned: iPad, Netbook
Number of books owned: 1000

Updated Portable Scanning Rig

Post by Moonboy242 »

Well, here we go... my first post.

Pretty sure everyone has seen this at one time or another. It's a portable scanning rig that uses a "no platen" approach with minimal parts:

http://www.instructables.com/id/New-Imp ... al-Copy-M/

There is also an older version that the creator feels did not work well (issues with reflections):

http://www.instructables.com/id/Portabl ... -Machine/#

The primary question / concerns I have with this is the manner in which the frame contacts the book when transcribing two pages side by side, and the pressure being placed on the spine from being "flattened" out by the rig itself. If preservation of the media is not of concern then it's good to go. If you're transcribing something more valuable or irreplacable then this is not ideal.
iPad: Over it. Android FTW.
univurshul
Posts: 496
Joined: 04 Mar 2014, 00:53

Re: Updated Portable Scanning Rig

Post by univurshul »

Cool.

I wonder if there's any chance someone can upload some raw or full size jpegs to a Drop Box folder so we can take a look under the hood.

It looks like some table lamps can light the book from the sides and alleviate overhead shadows from the rig.

I like the early acrylic plate version more for some reason, maybe easier to work with and calibrate at first glance. Both look slow.
Tim

Re: Updated Portable Scanning Rig

Post by Tim »

I think I've seen that one before, but it's interesting anyway from a cheap and portable standpoint. It's downsides are that it requires bending the threaded rods which is hard to do accurately if you don't have a vise and also drilling holes in metal which requires some skill and tricks without a drill press. At first I thought that the camera would move off center of the book and change angles with respect to the book when the frame is adjusted to different book sizes, but the isosceles trapezoidal design basically avoids that. As long as you level the camera platform it will be centered.

But you're right, anything that presses a book flat like this is definitely not for valuable or weakly bound books. Though the memory foam idea univershul had does seem to reduce the stress on the binding.
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