Best place (In EU) to buy CIS scanners

Built a scanner? Started to build a scanner? Record your progress here. Doesn't need to be a whole scanner - triggers and other parts are fine. Commercial scanners are fine too.

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Kinger
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Best place (In EU) to buy CIS scanners

Post by Kinger »

Hi guys,

I am trying to buy all the parts for my scanner only I don't have a spare printer with CIS scanner lying around in my house, I was wondering if there are any companies that sell loose CIS scanners. I live in Europe so preferably companies that are located there.

In addition, I was wondering if there is any difference in brands? Besides library support, is there anything different about the scanner from, say, Canon versus Dell or Siemens.
cday
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Re: Best place (In EU) to buy CIS scanners

Post by cday »

Kinger wrote: 10 Feb 2022, 03:49 I am trying to buy all the parts for my scanner only I don't have a spare printer with CIS scanner lying around in my house, I was wondering if there are any companies that sell loose CIS scanners. I live in Europe so preferably companies that are located there.
If you mean standalone scanners, the lower priced Epson and Canon models, for example, use CIS scan technology and are reasonably priced.

But how are you proposing to build your scanner, a limitation of CIS scan elements is that they must be in close contact with the paper being scanned?
Kinger
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Re: Best place (In EU) to buy CIS scanners

Post by Kinger »

cday wrote: 10 Feb 2022, 04:18 But how are you proposing to build your scanner, a limitation of CIS scan elements is that they must be in close contact with the paper being scanned?
Its a for a school project, it is to show what you can do with a glass plate, so I thought it would be cool to build a CIS scanner underneath that would scan (probably pretty badly) books. It's more about the proof of concept. But so I have quite a lot of space under the glass table that would allow me to put the CIS scanner and close to it. Does it matter how thick the glass is? And how far the scanner is from the glass?

So if I'm gonne buy a full CIS printer I only need the CIS sensor itself, so I was wondering if i could buy these things separately, so i don't have to throw the whole printer away.
cday
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Re: Best place (In EU) to buy CIS scanners

Post by cday »

If your aim is to show what can be done with a glass plate, I think this is likely to prove time consuming and with an uncertain result!

My knowledge of CIS scanners is largely confined to what I have read, and I don't recall anyone on the forum discussing dismantling one, although you could search the forum using 'CIS' as a search term, generally the Google search option produces better results. I also don't recall seeing any reference to CIS elements being available separately, but again you could search online for that.

For background information on CIS technology you could start with the Wikipedia Contact Image Sensor page, which also has a link to a Canon resource.
Kinger
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Re: Best place (In EU) to buy CIS scanners

Post by Kinger »

Thanks for you help, here are some links that made me ask this question:

This is a dutch site that is selling these CIS scanner heads:
https://nl.vicedeal.com/products/1x-060 ... Q0NDgyMDE3
I was wondering if there were more sites like this one, because i couldn't find any.

And this is a (pretty famous) project about somebody that made a DIY book scanner with CIS technology:
https://linearbookscanner.org/designs/p ... l#overview
cday
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Re: Best place (In EU) to buy CIS scanners

Post by cday »

Thanks, I have just searched online myself and CIS sensors are available as components, and as important as your first link shows, available directly in small quantities.

A scanner would also, of course, need a mechanism to move the sensor across the underside of the glass, shouldn't be not difficult to devise but another complication. The Canon resource link on the above Wikipedia page also suggests that their design has some tolerance to the item scanned not being pressed firmly against the scanner glass, which should allow the use of a thicker glass sheet if required, particularly when as in your project some quality can be sacrificed.

The Linear Book Scanner design in your second link looks familiar, originally a Google sponsored project I think, which has been mentioned on the forum.
Kinger
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Re: Best place (In EU) to buy CIS scanners

Post by Kinger »

thanks for the reply, I will take in consideration the distance between de CIS sensor and glass table / scanned object. I hope it works out.
cday wrote: 10 Feb 2022, 06:59 I have just searched online myself and CIS sensors are available as components
Does this mean you found another website that sells CIS sensors as components? Because then i would like to know there name :D
cday
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Re: Best place (In EU) to buy CIS scanners

Post by cday »

Kinger wrote: 10 Feb 2022, 07:09
cday wrote: 10 Feb 2022, 06:59 I have just searched online myself and CIS sensors are available as components
Does this mean you found another website that sells CIS sensors as components? Because then i would like to know there name :D
My search 'Contact Image Sensor Datasheet' produced multiple results, but that doesn't mean that individual products could be easily purchased in small quantities. However, one result was for Mouser.com which is a well known name for hobbyists, although I'm not sure if they have outlets in Europe. Really, in the absence of any other information, well-directed online searches with some persistence are the only answer. But if you already have one local source for a suitable product there may not be much to gain from further effort.
Kinger
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Re: Best place (In EU) to buy CIS scanners

Post by Kinger »

Hi,

Thanks for all the help with my project, i will for sure check it out. I have one last question (maybe a little strange) but are there any cool ways how to possibly scan the book instead of using a CCD or CIS scanner? Because i couldn't really find anything, and if you look at commercial scanners it's almost all CIS
cday
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Re: Best place (In EU) to buy CIS scanners

Post by cday »

Constructing a scanner to scan on your own glass sheet is actually that much more difficult, as in addition to needing a CIS sensor and devising a drive system to scan the glass, you would also need to interface to the CIS output signals to create a useful image. Realistically, the only practical way would probably be to buy a cheap CIS scanner, dismantle it, and reuse nearly all the parts assembled to suit your design: that would be likely, unless you are lucky, to present a series of challenges, and you might in practice find that you need to buy and dismantle more than one CIS scanner!

Kinger wrote: 10 Feb 2022, 08:16 are there any cool ways to possibly scan the book instead of using a CCD or CIS scanner?
A smartphone could be one, possibly using an app such as VFlat for the image processing...
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