Should I buy/build my own book scanner?

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algar32
Posts: 2
Joined: 08 Feb 2013, 18:26
Number of books owned: 0
Country: United States

Should I buy/build my own book scanner?

Post by algar32 »

I am currently an undergrad ECE. I go through a lot of books at school and would love to have digital copies and I know many others would like to have the same for their books. This seems like a great hobby and I would love to get involved. I was hoping I could get some cost estimates on scanners.

I have seen fully automated scanners on the forums and was wondering how much building a system like that would cost? I realize these are probably a good amount out of my price range, but it would be quite nice to have a fully automated scanner. I am looking to spend less than 500$ if at all possible. Thanks
markvdb
Posts: 90
Joined: 28 Dec 2010, 18:45
Number of books owned: 0
Country: Belgium

Re: Should I buy/build my own book scanner?

Post by markvdb »

algar32 wrote:I am currently an undergrad ECE. I go through a lot of books at school and would love to have digital copies and I know many others would like to have the same for their books. This seems like a great hobby and I would love to get involved. I was hoping I could get some cost estimates on scanners.

I have seen fully automated scanners on the forums and was wondering how much building a system like that would cost? I realize these are probably a good amount out of my price range, but it would be quite nice to have a fully automated scanner. I am looking to spend less than 500$ if at all possible. Thanks
For the use you describe, you probably want to go with an efficient manually operated scanner. That is actually quite efficient at a scanning speed between 600 and 1200 pages per hour not including post processing.

At http://diybookscanner.eu , we sell full kits at 799€ including cameras, shipping and 21% VAT/sales tax; we're in Europe). This should give you a rough idea. At least one of our users is doing exactly what you describe: scanning his university course material.
Mark
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algar32
Posts: 2
Joined: 08 Feb 2013, 18:26
Number of books owned: 0
Country: United States

Re: Should I buy/build my own book scanner?

Post by algar32 »

Thanks for the advice guys. It looks a bit pricey for me for now, but maybe someday I will be able to afford to build my own. Thanks again.
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