Quote:
Originally Posted by Kumabjorn
Thanks for that tip. I noticed that you and Iain has a fairly advanced project going. My aim is to output them in MOBI so I can have it as regular books on the Kindle. I need to look into one of those book guillotines you seem to be using. If I can get the book into digital format i don't really care if I have to destroy the paper version.
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Iain has the advanced project going because he developing new software to controll the scanning, OCR, and much of the post OCR process with little or no intervention from the user and hopes to market the software (he is a software developer by trade so he probably can pull it off). My project is merely massive (at least 1200 books). I don't have time to deal with OCR and the post OCR editing so I'm just settling on scanning my books to PDF and using an e-book reader that is capable of making most of them easily read (the JetBook Lite has worked best for me and still is small enough to fit in my purse). Larger books that have text too small to easily read in my JBL I can read at home on my TV screen (patched into my computer). It's a compromise but it works for me.
Since you don't mind destroying the paper books, a guillotine is the way to go. The kind Iain has is same as the first one I had (the one he has is not the same as the one pictured in his blog unless he changed it recently). Mine broke after about 300-400 books averaging 1" in thickness and, when I found the guillotine I bought was probably a counterfeit of the original design, I jumped through a few hoops and was able to get a full refund. I recently replaced it with a better designed one that is easier and faster to use and seems to be much better made. It's a
Perfect G12 Pro. It cost about 50% more than the genuine version of the first scanner I got would have cost but it is well worth it. I've had mine only three days and have cut only 32 books with it so time will tell how well it will hold up.
There was a bit of a learning curve finding out the best way to adjust the fence to easily and safely position the book properly for cutting off the spine. I shared with Iain via PMs how to do it and he is now using a variation of my method. Since there seems to an interest, I probably should post a copy of that on the Workshop forum.
How were you planning on scanning your books after cutting off the spines?