Don’t wait in line to feed coins into the library’s photocopier!
Here are instructions for making a portable, paperless, digital copy machine.
[Earlier I published a version of this that had a clear-plastic “page press”. In some cases, there was too much reflection off of the plastic, and I couldn’t get good copies. This new version has an adjustable, windowless frame for pressing the pages flat. This version is cheaper to make and packs up smaller than before.]
Your materials should cost less than $20, maybe less than $10, and the labor time should be only a few hours. I am assuming that you already have a digital camera and a computer for downloading pictures. Of course, your camera will do most of the work here, but you will provide it with a steady stand that has a press for getting those book pages flat.
The pictures show what the final device looks like, fully assembled …
and broken down for transport.
I suggest several, options for improving your copies – in some cases, low-cost software is involved. If you follow all of the options, you can convert your images into word-searchable documents. You can’t search for keywords in the pages you get off of a copy machine! And think of the trees you will save by going paperless!
(The book example is World Book Encyclopedia, 1989.)
Step 1: Parts Needed
2x threaded rods, 36” x 1/4”
1x Tygon tubing, 6’ x 1/4” inside diameter
16x 1/4” nuts
5x 1/4” wing nuts
4x 1/4” stop nuts or acorn nuts
1x 1 1/2” x 1/4” bolt
1x wood scrap, about 4” x 2” x 1/2” (size depends on your camera)
2x 2” angle brackets (with 1/4” holes)
4x wood screws, 1/2”
1x shelf track (the kind for adjustable shelving), 6’
4x 1” angle brackets
4x 3/16” threaded “eyes” (they come with nuts)
4x 3/16” wing nuts
4x 1/2” x 1/8” bolts
4x 1/8” nuts
Tools Needed
electric drill and bits
hacksaw (for cutting the threaded rods)
electric drill and bits
hacksaw (for cutting the threaded rods)
vise (for bending the rods & holding the track for drilling)
two wrenches (adjustable or fixed-gap wrenches of 7/16” or 11 mm, or pliers)
Step 2: Assemble the camera mount
Position the angle brackets onto the wood scrap.
(Mine are 3” apart.)
Mark the holes.
Drill pilot holes for the wood screws.
Screw the angle brackets in place.
Position the camera, with its lens centered between the brackets.
(Leave clearance for the wingnuts – read ahead.)
Mark the position of the camera’s threaded, tripod hole.
Drill a 5/16” hole for the 1 ½” x ¼” bolt.
Step 3: Prepare the page-press
Cut the track material into suitable lengths
(My pressing pieces are 13 1/4” and my cross pieces are 13”, all cut as indicated relative to the adjustment marks on the tracks – see the second photo)
Use a file to smooth off the corners and edges.
(My pressing pieces are 13 1/4” and my cross pieces are 13”, all cut as indicated relative to the adjustment marks on the tracks – see the second photo)
Use a file to smooth off the corners and edges.
Drill 3/16” holes at the positions indicated; refer to the third photo.
(WARNING: Drilling round holes into the rectangular slots is not trivial and can be dangerous. Wear eye protection, hold the pieces in a vise, etc., etc. I found it easiest to first enlarge the slots by hammering in a tapered tool (a nail set), then drilling the holes.)
(WARNING: Drilling round holes into the rectangular slots is not trivial and can be dangerous. Wear eye protection, hold the pieces in a vise, etc., etc. I found it easiest to first enlarge the slots by hammering in a tapered tool (a nail set), then drilling the holes.)
Step 4: Prepare the rods
Cut each 36” threaded rod in two; now you have four 18” rods.
Round off the cut ends with a file.
Check the threads of the cut ends with a nut.
(You may have to apply the nut onto the opposite end, then run it all the way up and off of the newly cut end.)
Mark each rod at 1” from each end.
Cut four 16” lengths of the Tygon tubing.
Slip the tubing over each rod.
Use a 1” scrap of tubing to protect the exposed threads in the bending process.
Bend one end of each rod at the mark to about 20° UP from straight.
(Slip the short tubing piece over the end before clamping it in the vise or pliers. Keep the outer ¾” of the rod as straight as possible.)
Bend the unbent end of each rod, at the mark, to about 20° DOWN from straight.
(Bend it in the opposite direction from the first bend! Keep the outer ¾” of the rod as straight as possible.)
Thread two bolts onto each end of the rods.
Cut each 36” threaded rod in two; now you have four 18” rods.
Round off the cut ends with a file.
Check the threads of the cut ends with a nut.
(You may have to apply the nut onto the opposite end, then run it all the way up and off of the newly cut end.)
Mark each rod at 1” from each end.
Cut four 16” lengths of the Tygon tubing.
Slip the tubing over each rod.
Use a 1” scrap of tubing to protect the exposed threads in the bending process.
Bend one end of each rod at the mark to about 20° UP from straight.
(Slip the short tubing piece over the end before clamping it in the vise or pliers. Keep the outer ¾” of the rod as straight as possible.)
Bend the unbent end of each rod, at the mark, to about 20° DOWN from straight.
(Bend it in the opposite direction from the first bend! Keep the outer ¾” of the rod as straight as possible.)
Thread two bolts onto each end of the rods.
(Each pair of bolts will be locked into position; the exact positions will be determined later.)
Step 5: Final assembly
Assemble the frame to an appropriate size depending on the book or magazine you want to copy. It’s easiest to make the frame with the rod-bottoms already mounted in the threaded “eyes”.
(You can copy large books or small, vertically or horizontally, sometimes two pages at a time – see various examples in the Step 6 photos.)
Remove the camera from the camera mount, if it's still mounted.
Insert the tops of the four rods into the bracket holes of the camera mount. Secure the tops with the wing nuts.
(The camera mount can go either vertically or horizontally.)
Mount the camera and check the alignment.
(Adjust the top, locked nuts as needed. Determine the best position for the nuts below the wingnuts, and lock them together.)
(The camera mount can go either vertically or horizontally.)
Mount the camera and check the alignment.
(Adjust the top, locked nuts as needed. Determine the best position for the nuts below the wingnuts, and lock them together.)
Step 6: Copy some documents
Turn off the flash.
(It’s not needed; it reflects off of the page; and it’s annoying in the library! Shift things around to avoid reflections and shadows. Long exposures are OK because everything is steady.)
Press the frame tightly onto the book so you can see all of the text.
Zoom in, as appropriate.
Snap a picture.
Turn the page
Repeat as needed.
(The book examples are: World Book Encyclopedia, 1989, and The Butterflies of Cascadia, Robert Pyle, 2002.)
(The book examples are: World Book Encyclopedia, 1989, and The Butterflies of Cascadia, Robert Pyle, 2002.)
Step 7: Clean up the images (Optional)
Use some simple photo-editing software to …
- Rotate the image, if it is out of alignment.
- Crop the image.
- Adjust the brightness and contrast.
- Fix photo aberrations (e.g. pincushioning).
Step 8: Paste the images into one document (Optional)
Prepare a dummy document using MS Word (or another word processing program).
Make a blank page for each image.
Give each blank page has a few Returns then a Page Break.
Cut one image at a time and Paste it into the dummy document.
Save the document.
Step 9: Convert the Word document into a Pdf file (Optional)
Why? See Option 10, below. Several programs (e.g. Abbyy Transformer or Cute PDF Writer) convert Word files to Pdfs.
(Some conversion programs are freeware.)
Step 10: Convert your Pdf files into word-searchable Pdf files
Several programs, e.g. Abbyy Transformer (~$49), do a good job with optical character recognition (OCR) converting Pdfs into searchable Pdfs. You can now search for keywords in your copied document! You can’t do this with the pages you get off of a Xerox copier.
AND … You saved a few trees by going paperless! Thank you.
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First of all, as has been mentioned already, you can buy the bookshelf track at Home Depot (and other places I'm sure). It was over in the cabinet section when I went. It costs less than $3 for a six-foot piece. It's pretty light and will bend if you treat it rough, but you can easily bend it back.
I found it to be impossible to drill a round hole in the rectangular slots of the track using a normal spiral drill bit. The bit kept getting locked in the slot, and that kind of stuff always makes me nervous. So just as an experiment, I grabbed an old spade bit (the flat ones used for boring large holes in wood) and gave it whirl. To my amazement, rather than killing me, this actually drilled round holes in rectangular slots like butter. I did about 80 holes in 45 minutes.
Here's what to do:
1) Place a scrap piece of wood underneath your track where you're going to drill. The track should be have the legs down, flat side up. Clamp the track down tightly near where you're going to drill so there won't be any vibration.
2) Insert a spade bit into your drill. You may end up dulling the bit so if you can use an old one instead of one from your nice new set, that would be good. If not, they're pretty cheap to buy. You're going to use the point of the spade to cut your holes, so the edges need to be sharp. The width of the base of the point should be slightly greater than the diameter of the hole you're trying to drill. I used a 1/2" spade for making the requisite 3/16" holes.
3) Insert the tip of the spade point directly in the middle of the slot you're going to drill and dig it into the wood to hold it in place. Start drilling at a moderately high rpm and slowly press down to ream out a hole about 3/16" in diameter. The edges of the spade point simple shave off the inside of the rectangular slot, and the hole will get bigger as you drill down further. It's the same idea as a step drill bit. The spade does such a great job of shaving off the soft track material that if your hole is off center or too small, you can just ream it out until it works.
4) Repeat as many times as necessary.
This technique will cause some minor variation in hole diameters because it depends on your ability to gauge how far down to drill. And it does leave some semi-sharp edges on the holes, but I think a single pass with a belt sander would take care of all of that. The process is amazingly safe, though. No chance of a bit getting stuck and torquing your drill or hurtling track across the room. I'd, of course, recommend wearing glasses, but I didn't see any metal shavings flying all over the place. They formed nice little piles right under each hole.
The bit itself lasted through 80 holes and didn't show any signs of getting dull. I'm sure there'd be no problem still using it on wood like it's actually designed for. I imagine the track material must have been aluminum or something else that's fairly soft. I highly doubt this would work at all with something made of steel.
I know this is only a minor thing, but I hope that it can prevent someone from getting stuck in the middle of the project like I thought I'd be.
How to convert pdf to word on mac
I'm will be adapting this for an iphone with the clariff case
Doing a book worked great. Here's the free OCR site I used:
http://www.free-ocr.com/
It wouldn't handle columns (I had to save pics as single columns of text before uploading), but otherwise did a very good job of recognizing my text. The text came up in a window on the screen (Firefox even underlined the misspelled words for me--not sure if that's built into the site or not) for me to edit & copy.
I haven't looked for myself, but read that this function is built into Google Docs now.
Yes, copying whole books you don't own is infringement, but there's been a long standing use of copy machines to duplicate sections in books for use at a later time, whether it's for school assignments, or just a cool project. This is especially true with reference books that the library doesn't allow to be checked out.
I mean if the library allowed it, then what would now allow you to use this in a bookstore?
If you did check it out, then you could just use a flatbed scanner.
Library books, magazines, etc. and items in a bookstore are not items you purchased, so you don't have any right to copy them!
The Copibook HD and we have one Copibook RGB+.
Your book scanner would be much better, if you could make the mount like on the copibook
However, in my work I have to copy large files of documents away from my office. I've been using a simple digital camera without a copy stand for years. It works very well. Much easier and faster than a photocopier.
Cheers
Mark
cool!
does this take a picture of the both pages at once?
Often you can take a picture of both pages. Check out the three different figures in step 6. In the first one, the camera is set up for two pages at once. Note that the camera can be either in the portrait (fig. 3) or landscape (figs.1, 2) orientation.
Copying portions regardless of method (and taking into account the use of the copies) is not a Copy Right infringement.
A digital camera is not a copier.... it is a camera. Sure a digital camera takes pictures like a copier, but a copier doesn't produce a file.
I liked the idea, though it is not an original idea. Good that people try to do and finish their projects. For my needs I would need two sided scanning (!) and a page turner/feeder, so personally, it is too nice (and time consuming to build) for small scanning and too simple for a 100-1000 page scanning. Personally, I just use "the hand stand" and even an old 2 mpix camera is OK to print it afterwards.
Fair use really only exists to let you something with the material - you can discuss it, criticise it, teach with it etc and that's fair use. It doesn't mean you can copy an entire book so you can read it on your phone.
You're right the DMCA doesn't really apply here but you're wrong to say that doesn't mean it's not against copyright. The DMCA is just one piece of US legislation. It's not all of copyright law.
A lot of things are against copyright law that you just don't get sued for, like copying music from a CD onto an iPod. It's a bit like jaywalking, it's technically a crime (copyright isn't a crime) but the police won't put you in jail for it because it's so minor.
That's why you're legally permitted to rip CDs and put the MP3s on your computer and mp3 players—but not upload those MP3s to peer-to-peer networks.