Weekly Project: A Handheld 3-D Camera: Without Using a Camera

Step 3: Gut the Scanner

Carefully, remove the scan head from inside the CanoScan LiDE 25 scanner. Begin by removing the lid from the scanner's body. Next lift the glass out from the taped plastic guides along each side. Retain the top paper size guide for calibrating the scanner during startup. This piece has a black/white calibration strip along its underside.

Disconnect the scan head from the reinforced movement cable. There is a set of five metal clips that hold the USB ribbon cable to the inside edge of the scanner. Slip these clips/cable out of the scanner's plastic edge. These clips are very poor quality metal and can be easily broken. Finally, remove the USB port from the rear of the scanner.

You now have a handheld 3D camera that can be tethered to the USB port of your notebook computer.

NOTE: Careful disassembly of the scanner will enable you to "recover" conventional operation of the CanoScan LiDE 25 when you are done making 3D art.