DIY Book Scanner

I'm not sure what you mean, exactly-- i mean, that sounds like a good kind of scanner to design and build, yep.

Dbmoura and I are working on releasing the 3rd gen complex folder now-- but it s no kit and not a cinch to build. When we're done with that we'll probably rework and refine it a bit more.

I plan to build more scanners, but I'm thinking more along the lines of pocketable stuff. I wont have time to do any serious work until the summer, though.

daniel_reetz wrote:I'm not sure what you mean, exactly-- i mean, that sounds like a good kind of scanner to design and build, yep.

Sorry about being unclear. I figure your 1st scanner proved you could do it, but it depended on stuff that a random dumpster diver couldn't count on finding. Your 2nd scanner could be built from stuff one could reasonably expect to find in a dumpster or a thrift store. Your 3rd scanner fixed limitations in the 2nd scanner (e.g. portability), but depended on stuff like a laser cutter that your random DIY-er can't count on getting.

We've got a lot of great scanner designs bouncing around here. Some require little more than one camera, a cardboard box and duck tape. I proposed (improperly) that your 4th, 6th, 8th... scanner designs adopt this crude-but-effective paradigm. And your 5th, 7th, 9th... scanner designs follow a precision-engineered paradigm. Sort of like the Russian and US space programs: The Ruskies launched thousands of Cosmos satellites that were cheap and adequate and built on assembly lines like Model-T Fords, whereas the US launched just a few Keyhole satellites that were engineered and hand-built like Rolls Royce Phantoms. Same problem, two divergent engineering solutions.

I guess my even/odd scheme is stupid. Instead, I should have proposed two distinct scanner design paradigms: crude-but-effective (vs) best-performance without regard to generation numbers.

I know its a little old... but Dan do you still put together the electronics packages for sale?

I don't have the right workshop setup to do it at the moment, sorry. I'll consider doing another run later this year, but right now it's just not feasible for me.

Thanks Dan. Can anyone else in the community help a guy out? I don't have a workshop where I can do the electronics bit... or the skill...

Well, first off, all you need is a hub, switch, wall adapter, and a soldering iron. You can get the first three for free, and the last can be borrowed or bought as cheap as $10. You can do it anywhere that you have an outlet. I can walk you through doing it that way; we've done that on the forum before. Hub triggers have been designed/described many times, [quote=http://www.sakeoftruth.com/2010/04/usb- ... ject-pt-1/]jman recently described one here[/quote].

Another option is to use the [quote=http://diybookscanner.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=484]remote triggering script[/quote] that Tim made. It might get you started -- and Tim is a great resource around here.

A third option is to make a new thread asking for someone to build one for you (I don't know who could do it, but the answer must be that many people here could). Again, I'm sorry I can't do it, but my life/schedule is full right now, and my patience for building things for others is really, really thin so I don't want to get started on it.

I'll be willing to sell my dual USB switch (built and upgraded by Daniel Reetz himself) for what I paid for it, $25, postpaid within the U.S. First person to PM me here reserves it; first person to actually pay me gets it.

Daniel,
Any more switches available??? I'm ready to PayPal payment today.
Philip

I just sold my switch, and am struggling with seller's remorse. Congratulations to the buyer, and I hope you'll get as much use out of it as I did. It really is a well-designed and well-built switch.