Ionaudio Booksaver?

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deklerkt
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Re: Ionaudio Booksaver?

Post by deklerkt »

Cannot confirm the resale but Konrad at the time said they would reconsider and restore the manual control in the side bar instead of on top of the camera.

However, I've been looking around for something similar and ended up with Plustek OpticBook A300 A3 flatbed scanner with a bookscanner side, i.e. you can drop one side of the book off the scanner and scan the other page almost right upto the spine (minus about 6 mm). The scanner is very fast, can be set to automatically scan at adjustable intervals and even rotates pages around to have them all oriented the same way. Output in JPG, BMP, TIF or combined PDF. Forget most of the crappy s/w that comes with it - its "Pavillion" part does most. Or use its TWAIN driver from within Finereader or Omnipage for ocr results.
I choose the A3 sized scanner but a far cheaper A4 sized is also available.

I won't look back. The destructive sheetreader ScanSnap S1500 of Fujitsu and the A300 from Plustek suit me fine to copy all books I want. At a very good resolution too as scanning seems better than any photo taken of the page.
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LA2
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Re: Ionaudio Booksaver?

Post by LA2 »

Now (January 15) it's out of stock again, http://www.iononline.nl/news/?p=180
but a new model (mark 2) is being planned.
deklerkt
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Joined: 26 Aug 2012, 06:19
E-book readers owned: BE Book White, iPad
Number of books owned: 2000
Country: Netherlands

Re: Ionaudio Booksaver?

Post by deklerkt »

Since Nov 2012 I've decided to use an A3 flatbed scanner specifically made for books, the Plustek OpticBook A300. I won't look back. The scanner has an A3 platter which is very convenient. Sometimes to scan 2 facing pages simultaneously if the spine can be pressed flat. Many books seem slightly wider than A4 so the extra space with an A3 scanner is useful - although the A3 size scanner is unproportionally more expensive than its A4 counterpart. It is also rather fast. A full A3 colour scan of 300 dpi takes about 4-5 seconds. Grey tone or duotone is faster. It certainly competes with the V-shaped DIY scanners in this regard.

The useful thing with a bookscanner is that one side of the platter almost runs to the spine (approx 3-4 mm is lost) and allows for flat scanned copies of the page. It is scanned rather than photographed and the images are sharper. Useful if you want pdf output and not plain text ePub.
Using the software that comes with the scanner or the TWAIN interface with Abbyy Finereader allows to set the scanner to automatic and scan a page every 4 or 5 seconds after a scan complets (so say once every 10 seconds). Time enough to manually rotate the book for the next page (and software will automatically ensure all pages are oriented the same way). A book of 200 pages takes about 2000 seconds or 34 minutes.
Of course OCR-ing the texts and converting to pdf of ePub takes additiional time for correction as well as output production.

But it works wonders. I'm very happy with the setup as I'm not a handy DIY-er to make my own. And I think the scans are sharper than a photograph with no reflection issues.
cday
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Re: Ionaudio Booksaver?

Post by cday »

Using a flatbed scanner does eliminate the dewarping issue at a stroke and should generally produce higher quality scans.
Using the software that comes with the scanner or the TWAIN interface with Abbyy Finereader allows to set the scanner to automatic and scan a page every 4 or 5 seconds after a scan complets (so say once every 10 seconds).
I experimented with a foot-operated usb switch to start the scan, which leaves both hands free to hold the book in place and gives control over timing. It might speed things up slightly and also prevent unwanted mis-scans.

I made it by dismantling a usb mouse, wiring a suitable momentary-action switch to the circuit board in place of the left click switch, and then mounting it all in a shallow box. To the computer it's simply a second mouse with the cursor positioned over the 'scan' button.
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LA2
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Re: Ionaudio Booksaver?

Post by LA2 »

On July 4, 2013, it was reported that the Ion Book Saver MK2 will not go into production.
someoldbird
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Re: Ionaudio Booksaver?

Post by someoldbird »

Hey guys, Im new here, I really like this design, that I just lift it up and down by hand and the buttons right there. It seems a lot simpler to make than a whole hoisting machine.

I'm gonna try and make something like it, but I'm not skilled, I'm just winging it with what I can find around my apartment and at the thrift stores, no access to power tools like drills. To start, I was at the thrift store and got some glass from picture frames. Guess Ill stick them together at a 90* angle and go from there.

Im gonna have questions as I go along, is there a good way to navigate the forums to find the answers? Should I just ask here since its related to this design (or my half assed addaptation of it)?

Questions like:
How to position the camera's so no glare reflection?
Is picture frame glass doable?
Where to put the light? Over the book like \'/ or in it like \./ or to the sides ' \/ ' ?
How to position cameras so they dont catch a reflection?
Would putting a shoe box over the lights and camera help? or even a shroud that would cover the cameras and surround the book?
BillGill
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Re: Ionaudio Booksaver?

Post by BillGill »

You want to be careful with the glass from picture frames. It tends to be quite fragile. A glass company can provide some stronger glass. Otherwise plastic will do. Plastic isn't as fragile, although it is also easier to scratch.

The camera needs to be positioned so that it is parallel to the platen. The center of the camera lens should be positioned fairly close to the center of the page when you are taking the image. If you will be scanning books of various sizes you can set it so that it works for the largest book and overscans a bit for the smaller books. Then you can crop the image to include just the text you want to capture.

Positioning the lighting can be a problem. It needs to be positioned so that it dosen't reflect into the camera lens. This usually means the light is to one side of the camera. If you use a light with a flexible stem you can easily play around with it to find the optimal angle. In the scanner I am using now I actually use 2 lights mounted at right angles to the camera (I am using a 1 camera system) so that the lights wash across the book. The problem with this for a 2 camera system is that one of the lights will probably be between you and the platen, making it difficult to operate. My lights are cheap clamp lights modified for fixed mounting. (I took the clamps off and put screws through the edges of the reflectors to mount them.) That makes them rather large.

As far as some kind of box or shroud is concerned: I don't have a real opinion on that. If you will be operating in location where there is overhead lighting that will reflect in the platen you might want something of the sort. You could just turn off the room lighting except for a lamp positioned so it provides light enough to see to operate the scanner. Of course you will probably get quite a bit of light from the light(s) you use for the scanner.

Good luck, and of course if you have more questions somebody here will be happy to answer them for you. There are people on here who have had a lot of experience creating scanners.

Bill
someoldbird
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Joined: 03 Jul 2018, 23:20
E-book readers owned: kindle, adobe, preview. I use my galaxy tab and macbook pro to view them and always go for text to speech.
Number of books owned: 200
Country: United States

Re: Ionaudio Booksaver?

Post by someoldbird »

Thanks Bill, well noted, I will keep any eye out for plastic, maybe some kinda square plastic fish tank.

I'm thinking rather than having the handle in the to one side, why not it like a basket where a line will come up from each of the four corners towards a single handle. I could apply pressure evenly that way, the button for the cameras could be mounded there, and to either side I could mount the camera's onto retractible selfie sticks.

I also gave thought to the cradle, maybe I could run Autogrip Buckle belts through wood so I can adjust the cradle precisely to book I'm working on atm. No drawing skills so heres a photo shop concept of this design.
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BillGill
Posts: 139
Joined: 18 Dec 2016, 17:13
E-book readers owned: Calibre, FBReader
Number of books owned: 7000
Country: USA

Re: Ionaudio Booksaver?

Post by BillGill »

I'm not certain if I have your idea quite straight, but let me comment on what I think you are saying. I'm not complaining about what you said, I realize that it is difficult to get ideas into words and sketches.

I think you will need some kind of frame to provide stability for the platen. That 90 degree angle between the 2 pieces of plastic or glass is a weak point that can provide a lot of flex.

If I understand correctly you are figuring on using one had to lift the platen off of the book as you turn the pages. Trying to hold the platen in one hand and turn the page with the other could be awkward. You might need to have a hook or something to support the platen while you have it lifted. Possibly you could suspend the platen as you show, but have it suspended from an arm that is pivoted at the back with a counterweight on it. You might be able to use a bottle of water for the weight. (A water bottle counterweight has been my choice for some time now, but almost anything you can find that is the correct weight would do.)

Using phones as cameras for your scanner is quite doable. Selfie sticks should allow you to easily position the phones in the correct positions.

One note: This type of scanner can have problems with some books, particularly paperbacks. A lot of them have very narrow gutter margins. Gutter margins are the margins close to the spine of the book. Looking at say the left hand page. The material of the platen holding down the right hand page may obscure the very end of the lines that terminate at the gutter. Then you lose the last characters in each line that goes to the gutter. That is why I have switched to a one camera scanner. It takes longer to do the scan, but after I run it through the OCR I save a lot more time, since I don't have to correct all the missing characters. If you are only going to scan quality hard backs this won't be a problem for you.

Bill
L.Willms
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Please start a new thread

Post by L.Willms »

someoldbird wrote: 04 Jul 2018, 23:47 Im gonna have questions as I go along, is there a good way to navigate the forums to find the answers? Should I just ask here since its related to this design (or my half assed addaptation of it)?
Please start a new thread with your design. This one is about an ill-fated try to make a dirt cheap bookscanner which was scrapped soon after hitting the market because it was really scrappy.


All the questions which you raise have been discussed in other threads and other sections (this ION Audio scrap is also wrong in the section "lighting").
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