Linear Book Scanner — The open-source automatic book scanner

Introduction The Linear Book Scanner is a low-cost page-turning book scanner. The design is open-source, so anyone can build one.

How-to
Designs

FAQ
Updates

Contact

A book moves back and forth over the machine.

Each time across, a vacuum sucks a page from one side to the other.
The pages are scanned as they travel across two imaging sensors.

The software produces a searchable PDF of your book!

 Linear Book Scanner — The open-source automatic book scanner

Introduction How to get started

How-to This project is an ongoing effort, and you can help. The design files for many different prototypes are available here for anyone
to use and improve on.
Designs
The aluminum prototypes require machine shop tools to build, such as a shear, brake, and drill press. The plastic prototypes use
FAQ a laser cutter. You may be able to access these tools at a local hackerspace, a facility such as TechShop, or by using an online or
local machine shop.
Updates
Cardboard is all you need to begin experimenting, though. This was the very first prototype:
Conact

The design document for the first published prototype provides a good introduction to the major components
of a Linear Book Scanner.

The DIY Book Scanner forums are a great place to discuss ideas and get help. Check them out!
 Linear Book Scanner — The open-source automatic book scanner

Introduction Scanner Designs

How-to The Linear Book Scanner is Open Hardware, meaning the design is publicly available for anyone to build and improve on. Many
people have built prototypes, and information about each design is shown below.
Designs
FAQ Prototype 1
This was the first linear book scanner, developed by Dany Qumsiyeh as a 20%
Updates project at Google through 2012.

Contact

Prototype 2
This prototype was designed by Dany Qumsiyeh in the summer of 2013.
Michigan Prototype 1
This prototype was designed by Jit Yang Lim, Ryan Snyder, Zach Quanbeck, Eric
Gu, and Shawn Wright in the fall of 2013 as part of the University of Michigan
ME450 class.

Michigan Prototype 2
This prototype was designed by Garrett Cullen, Kelsey Lindberg, Lauren
Staszel, and Teresa Tombelli in the winter of 2014 as part of the University of
Michigan ME450 class.

Mäqädat Bookscanner
This prototype is being developed by a team in Germany for use by Mekele
University in Ethiopia, and was shown at Maker Faire Hannover 2014.
GT Prototype
This prototype was developed by Gérard Tolboom through the summer of
2014.
 Linear Book Scanner — The open-source automatic book scanner

Introduction Frequently Asked Questions

How-to
Can it scan every book?
Designs The prototypes works on a wide range of books, but there are restrictions on book dimensions and page thickness (thin
dictionary pages or thick card stock pages will not work). For prototype 1, about 60% of books satisfy these conditions and can
FAQ be scanned.

Updates
Is it safe for books?
Contact Prototype 1 could scan the majority of books without damage, but may tear one or two pages in some books. Out of 50 books
tested, 45% had one or two of their pages either torn or folded. This is a very early prototype and there are many areas for
improvement in the design.

How do you detect errors?

Prototype 1 has a break-beam sensor which detects the pages as they are being turned. If a page doesn't turn or gets stuck, the
motor stops. The scanning software displays each page as it is scanned and provides features for quickly checking whether any
pages had problems.

What happens if the book is dirty?

It's possible for dirt to get stuck on the sensor and cause the image to have streaks. This is rare and could be detected in software
if necessary. A good practice could be to wipe the sensor between each book.

Does it work for soft-cover books?

Yes. Some soft-cover books have tight bindings and will not sit flat on the machine. You can press these books down with a
weight, or place another book on top while scanning.

Can you make it turn pages in both directions?

You could have page-turning slots on both sides of the sensors and scan in both directions. This would slightly shorten the
scanning time per page pair because the book would not have to move back over the scan sensors when they are not scanning.
With prototype 1, this would save about one second out of the 11 second cycle, but would make the machine significantly more
complicated.

How about flipping it upside down and moving the device instead of the book?
Perhaps that would work, but the book is much smaller than the machine, so I think it's the easier one to move.

How about chaining a bunch of them together into a circle?

Sure! Since the spine of the book is straight, though, it would be difficult for it to run smoothly over a curved surface. The circle
would need to be very large.

How about making the book hover like on an air hockey table?
That might work and it sounds like fun, but the page still needs to be suctioned against the surface for turning and flat against
the sensors for scanning.
 Linear Book Scanner — The open-source automatic book scanner

Introduction Updates
How-to
June 13, 2015
Designs Mäqädat at Maker Faire Hannover
FAQ The Mäqädat team presented their latest progress at Maker Faire Hannover 2015.

Updates
Contact

May 25, 2015

Acrylic prototype
Here's the prototype I've been working on lately. More details to come, but I wanted
to point out the vacuum adjustment inspired by the Michigan prototypes. There's a
clear plastic film wrapped around two adjacent tubes (one not visible in the picture).
The visible tube is slotted and connects to the vacuum, and the film has holes cut in it
so that it can be rotated to change the position of the suction area.

May 21, 2015

Michigan Prototype 3
 Di Fu and Yusheng Zou posted some videos of their work on Michigan Prototype
3. They are continuing to improve a prototype that they worked on with Yuwei Li
and David Pawlak in the fall of 2014.

May 21, 2015

Another linear book scanner build
A video discovered by Hackaday April 23 shows another scanner build, this one using a server fan to
provide suction. The photos show some great craftsmanship!

September 27, 2014

New videos from Gérard Tolboom
 This is an impressive high-speed prototype designed by Gérard Tolboom, with firmware changes
contributed by Matthieu Gros. Gérard made improvements to Prototype 1 last year and has now
configured the same parts into a V-shaped channel for higher speed. He reduced the cycle time from 11
seconds to 4.5 seconds and demonstrates an incredible 1.63 seconds moving the book by hand.

August 26, 2014

A preview of a new design
Here's a cardboard model of a new design inspired by the University of Michigan prototypes. It will
hopefully improve on the V-shaped channel, and will be laser-cut out of acrylic.

July 15, 2014

Librarians Collaborate with Students to Make an Impact
This is a great article published by University of Michigan about their work on the Linear Book Scanner.
July 6, 2014
The Mäqädat Bookscanner
At Maker Faire Hannover, a team in Germany presented an exciting new design for a linear book
scanner, for use by Mekele University in Ethiopia. Their prototype is made of wood and uses the Coandă
effect with blowing air rather than a vacuum to separate pages.
 Linear Book Scanner — The open-source automatic book scanner

Introduction Contact
How-to This project is a collaboration and the Linear Book Scanner designs shown here are made by many different people. This website
is an attempt to assemble all the design information in one place, and is maintained by Dany Qumsiyeh. You can email me at
Designs dany@linearbookscanner.org.
FAQ

Updates
Contact