Newbie: Total cost and time?

[cgott42]

Sorry for the newbie question(s). I came across this forum and it is exactly what I was hoping for as I have my fairly large personal library that I'd like to scan for use with an e-reader, and couldn't afford a commercial book scanner.
I'm not very skilled with tools and all. How long (excluding the time to shop for materials) should I expect the project will take me?
Also in regards to financial costs, how do they break down (e.g. $200 digital cameras, $100 home depot stuff)?
Lastly does anyone sell these premade that I can buy (again only have so much money to spend, but I have to be realistic about my skills)? (I saw posts on the forum re: someone that did, but he seems to have left (or whatever) - would/could someone else make one?

thanks so much!
Jon

[Shaknum]

Hey Jon, you will probably spend quite a bit of money and time, but it depends on what you want. I've spent close to $1000, but most of that ($840) was for expensive cameras and I have a non-standard build. It all comes down to what you want and need. I'm sure you can put something together for $300-400 that will be nice for small-medium sized books, and I think you will be impressed with the quality. If you do larger format stuff, then the cost goes up. As for making the book scanner itself, generally putting a bit more time and money in at the beginning will result in faster and more consistent scans. You could build something in a day, but more likely it will be better to build it over a week or two. If you will only scan a few books a month, then don't worry yourself about it too much, there are some pretty simple systems that will be perfectly serviceable for you. If you are scanning a book or more a day, and you need/want archival quality scans then you will want to make a system with a counterbalanced platen, a lighting system, and more than a modicum of precision. If you look at the master build list you can usually tell what the time investment and quality output will be for a given system. Also I've noticed a couple new 80/20 builds that may be easier for a novice to work with, perhaps I'm wrong about that, but it looks like you can get better precision with less technical prowess. You will find systems for sale from time to time, but you really can't count on that happening (I think Idolse had one for sale recently).

I will be updating my build-thread soon: http://www.diybookscanner.org/forum/vie ... ?f=1&t=637.

[Gerard]

a good plan saves you a lot of time, you can build a scanner in one day that is working, i've rebuild my scanner (or parts) and it took me ~5 days, because i had no plan, now i think i could build the same scanner in one day

if you home depot store offers a wood cutting service (i don't know if this is a normal service in US, in germay it is) make a plan on paper and let them make the cutting work, buy of the cheap part always some more,

[ceeann1]

Origami Scanner- a folding book scanner
http://www.diybookscanner.org/forum/vie ... ?f=1&t=714
This, the above, is the scanner I came up with after looking at most of the posted scanner pictures. It folds and is stowable behind a couch or in a closet. It will probably cost as much or almost as much as the cameras. Not a small task to make either since it will require custom wood and metalwork. I expect to do the work myself... thus the DIY part of the deal... and I will have a great time doing it. I am slowly edging up on dimensions on that scanner. The intention is to be able to scan up to an Encyclopedia Britannica in size using the normal mode and doing so at 300 dpi on the scanned image with other larger sizes possible. I am mostly interested in 14 megapixel cameras so the cost will be higher for this scanner.

Simple, Portable, Personal DIY book scanner
http://www.diybookscanner.org/forum/vie ... ?f=1&t=103
This is a scanner by nalfonso, see above, is a small packable and portable scanner with only the minimum of pieces. I expect this scanner, with a light bar like that built by Daniel ( see Daniel's 5th Generation DIY Book Scanner http://www.diybookscanner.org/forum/vie ... ?f=1&t=678) to be much closer to the minimum in cost. The maximum size it scans is 8.5" x 11" based on what I read on the build thread.

Both scanners would work but they have differing purposes. One is a full size at home version. The second one is portable and a take along kind of machine. Both have lighting planned for them. It depends on how much money and time one wants to spend.

Mileage may vary

[will1384]

If you use wood and cheap cameras and build something like the "The New Standard Scanner"
I would say at most $400 to $600 and a week or two of work, I started around July 10th and by
July 24th I had it over 90% done, if I had had a better work space and all the parts, I could
have been done in maybe a weekend.

I do want to tell you, that even when its working, there will always be room for modifications,
improvements, fixes, upgrades and so on, so its never really done, its more of a "work in progress"

[dansheffler]

I built my scanner in three stages because I was doubtful what kind of results I would get. I only sunk money into the project when I could justify the costs.

My first build which scanned about 5 books only cost me $35! I used a camera I already had, a tripod, some scrap wood, work lights from my workshop, and glass from old picture frames. I only bought the drawer slides and a few little pieces of hardware (angle bracket, screws), and gorilla glue. This build took me about 6 hours with a friend on a saturday afternoon, including glue drying time. (neither of us were "experienced" but we just used some common sense).

My second build was a little bit of an improvement on this. I added a handle to the platen, stabilized the drawer slides and added a pulley with counterweight. This added $30. All of this took 3 hours on another saturday afternoon.

Finally I decided to go for a two camera setup to cut my book scanning time in half. After scanning about 20 books on my first two builds I could finally justify the costs. I bought two Canon A480s for $60 each, two SD cards at $7 each, an SD Card reader for $8, two power supplies for $10 each, USB hub for $10 and an old foot pedal from the ReStore for $5. With shipping and everything that came to about $195. This final build involved making new camera brackets (started to build 3 different designs before I found one I was happy with), doing the wiring for the switch, and fiddling with CHDK for about 8 hours one final saturday.

So all together, that was three Saturdays, and $260.

[cgott42]

thanks.
I went decided to follow similar advice and start small and see how much I need
Yesterday I started stage 1 - the duct tape w/box version, using current Canon 850IS camera (only 8MP ) , already have a cheap tripod, and a clip on light socket
I bought: $2.50 piece of glass from Home Depot (though they glue cardbard to the glass -ughh) + $6 natural daylight bulb - Total cost to date < $9. Effort minimal, experience needed - none (good with duct tape )
I hope to test the CHDK software today, and try some scans.
I can see this being a fun hobby and something which undergoes improvements over time.

Shame the scanners are sooo slow as Staples has a sale on a 11x17 scanner which would be perfect.

Thx!