The Super Helpful Little Things Forum

[jawsthegreat]

[thalassocrat]

[Tenth Usher]

Are most people going with print-only? I like the prices, but it seems like having scan/copy as an option would be helpful.

[Tenth Usher]

Buehler?

[Matthies]

Are most people going with print-only? I like the prices, but it seems like having scan/copy as an option would be helpful.

I used the scanner, still use the scanner, alot on my printer. Glad I have it

[RUQRU]

Are most people going with print-only? I like the prices, but it seems like having scan/copy as an option would be helpful.

I used the scanner, still use the scanner, alot on my printer. Glad I have it

+1

With the prices on AIOs being so low, it makes sense to get the copy/scan functionality. I scan many documents in Adobe Acrobat and the run the OCR feature on them so they are searchable text. Very helpful.

[sibley]

I was thinking of this. http://www.officemax.com/technology/pri ... u=21934677... $90, plus I have a $10 coupon. New toner is $65 but I didn't check off-brand or how many pages it lasts. It's wireless which is important to me. Trying to decide if I want to pay more and get an all-in-one. The last time I needed to scan anything (probably 2 years ago?) I just took a picture of it on my camera's document setting.

[Tenth Usher]

Are most people going with print-only? I like the prices, but it seems like having scan/copy as an option would be helpful.

I used the scanner, still use the scanner, alot on my printer. Glad I have it

+1

With the prices on AIOs being so low, it makes sense to get the copy/scan functionality. I scan many documents in Adobe Acrobat and the run the OCR feature on them so they are searchable text. Very helpful.

This is the one I was interested in. Do rising 2Ls/3Ls think this is useful?

Any bulk copying can be taken care of at the library, but having searchable text scans sounds incredibly useful.

[RUQRU]

For bulk scanning I have one of these:

Xerox DocuMate 262i


http://www.xeroxscanners.com/en/us/products/DM262i/

* Scans plastic ID cards from Front Feed Tray
* Holds up to 50 pages in ADF
* Scans documents at 38 ppm and 76 ipm in duplex mode
* SMART DOUBLE FEED DETECTION™
* Kofax VRS® delivers perfect scans from imperfect originals
* AutoCrop and AutoStraighten
* Visioneer OneTouch® scanning to sPDF, Microsoft SharePoint®

The cool part is that it copies BOTH sides of a page at once and is crazy fast.

Pricey? Yes. But my wife bought it to make PDFs out of the huge manuals she had to carry for business trips. Significantly reduced the carry-on load!

[Fast_Fingers]

ADF makes a world of difference when scanning. If you want a multi-function printer, get one with that feature...even if you only scan a handful of pages at home.

For larger jobs, obviously go to the library.

[Duralex]

I use the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M (Windows people would want the S1500) which is about half the price of the Xerox model listed above and works great so far (I haven't scanned a complete book yet.)

$452 at Provantage: http://www.provantage.com/fujitsu-pa035 ... UJ91MN.htm.

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Newegg link (check the glowing reviews): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6838115053
Lawyerist review: http://lawyerist.com/review-scansnap-s1 ... t-scanner/
Lawyerist follow up FAQ in response to comments: http://lawyerist.com/fujitsu-scansnap-s ... t-scanner/

The only drawback is that it does not support TWAIN scanning--so you cannot scan directly into programs that require TWAIN to communicate with a scanner. (Of course, you can always scan to a folder and import the files.) If you don't know what TWAIN is you probably don't need it, but for the curious: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWAIN.


I bought a bulk cutter for debinding from a factory outlet seller on ebay. It's basically a short/wide guillotine w/a safety guard and a long lever. Looks like a paper cutter on steroids. Preliminary tests have gone well, this weekend I plan to try debinding an E&E and running it through the scanner in as few batches as possible. We'll see.....

I also have access to a big Ricoh network copier that has scanning--but I wouldn't trust textbook pages to its rather rough and tumble paper path--and when it misfeeds, the sheets get wrecked.

Note: this is a pure scanner, not an AIO printer/scanner/copier/fax.

[SeymourShowz]

I was thinking of this. http://www.officemax.com/technology/pri ... u=21934677... $90, plus I have a $10 coupon. New toner is $65 but I didn't check off-brand or how many pages it lasts. It's wireless which is important to me. Trying to decide if I want to pay more and get an all-in-one. The last time I needed to scan anything (probably 2 years ago?) I just took a picture of it on my camera's document setting.

That's the printer I bought.. CNET gave it excellent reviews. I want to say you can get ~1500 pages on single toner. I've been pleased with it so far. The wireless works great and I like that the paper is stored inside the printer where it will not get dusty.

A scanner would be nice, but I've had trouble with those all-in-one machines, too many parts to go bad. I'll just buy a stand alone scanner if it turns out I'm really going to need one/.

[samiseaborn]

The Brother really is a GREAT printer!! Fast, crisp, and clean. Plus, go on-line and look for after-market toner cartridges. Usually you can pick one up for around $25 and it will last anywhere from 4000-12000 pages. AWESOME!!!

just picked up this printer for $50. Any idea how long the 'starter' cartridge lasts?

[Duralex]

Starter carts never last very long (unless it's a brand that gives you full carts.) Have a replacement on hand before classes start, I'd say.

[Duralex]

Just wanted to update this and say that I've now de-bound both casebooks and supplements and scanned them with near perfect OCR results. If you're so inclined I'd say go for it.

[thundy84]

Edited

[mountaintime]

The Brother really is a GREAT printer!! Fast, crisp, and clean. Plus, go on-line and look for after-market toner cartridges. Usually you can pick one up for around $25 and it will last anywhere from 4000-12000 pages. AWESOME!!!

just picked up this printer for $50. Any idea how long the 'starter' cartridge lasts?

The bag the starter toner was sealed in claimed 1000 (yes, with three zeros) pages. I too picked this up for $50.

[RUQRU]

Just wanted to update this and say that I've now de-bound both casebooks and supplements and scanned them with near perfect OCR results. If you're so inclined I'd say go for it.

Any tips on "de-bounding" so as not to destroy the pages?

[Duralex]

Take apart the binding with an x-acto knife and separate the book into the smaller sheafs that were sewn/glued together. If you do it neatly enough hardcovers will survive (remove the pages from the spine w/o cutting the covers off the spine) and can be used with rings, brads or posts through the spine to carry around the pages of the day.

Then trim the bound edges of those using a paper cutter (or a ruler, box cutter and cutting pad.) Or, you can spring for a heavier duty stack cutter and separate the book into bundles of sheaves at whatever size stack it can handle. The QCM-1200E is a smaller version of what Kinkos uses and is about $250 on Amazon--sometimes cheaper on ebay. I think it handles around 250 sheets-probably more given the very thin paper casebooks use. (Note that this thing is kind of big and heavy and needs a sturdy flat surface--it lives on top of my dryer.) Ideally you should also go for an adjustable heavy duty 3 hole punch with a centered handle--decent ones (~40pg capacity) can be had for around $50. Using the stack cutter will give you a much neater inner edge, which is good when you're punching them to put them into the binders.

I try to scan before I punch to prevent misfeeds from rough edges on the holes catching each other, but even when I forget I see maybe one misfeed per 500 pages or so, so not a big deal.

If you're only doing this for school books, it may not pay off to get your own equipment. I think it should be $5-$10 per book to get them debound and punched at Kinkos. But I'm a control freak, and I'm also working on digitizing boxes of old magazines and paperbacks so I can toss/donate them.

[orko60]

What is it exactly that you guys are printing out all the time? Granted, I'm only two weeks into school, but I just don't see the need. Plus, we get about 660 free prints in the lab, as well as free printing from Lexis and Westlaw. Just wondering.

[revolution724]

What is it exactly that you guys are printing out all the time? Granted, I'm only two weeks into school, but I just don't see the need. Plus, we get about 660 free prints in the lab, as well as free printing from Lexis and Westlaw. Just wondering.

Can't speak for anyone else, but I have trouble reading serious material on a computer screen, so I print syllabi, articles sent around for class reading, papers, etc. That said, I don't own a printer and manage fine with the library.

The most super helpful little thing I own is the mini-mouse with retractable cord I bought for my laptop. I can't stand using the touchpad, and the mini-mouse gives me far more mousing control (not to mention not accidentally hitting the touchpad anymore with the heel of my hand while typing and making it move the cursor - argh!). They don't last forever, that's the only problem. I'm on my second since last year.

[zeth006]

What is it exactly that you guys are printing out all the time? Granted, I'm only two weeks into school, but I just don't see the need. Plus, we get about 660 free prints in the lab, as well as free printing from Lexis and Westlaw. Just wondering.

Can't speak for anyone else, but I have trouble reading serious material on a computer screen, so I print syllabi, articles sent around for class reading, papers, etc. That said, I don't own a printer and manage fine with the library.

The most super helpful little thing I own is the mini-mouse with retractable cord I bought for my laptop. I can't stand using the touchpad, and the mini-mouse gives me far more mousing control (not to mention not accidentally hitting the touchpad anymore with the heel of my hand while typing and making it move the cursor - argh!). They don't last forever, that's the only problem. I'm on my second since last year.

I think that's why many if not most people in my section have Macs. The touchpad seems to solve this problem.

[RUQRU]

Take apart the binding with an x-acto knife and separate the book into the smaller sheafs that were sewn/glued together. If you do it neatly enough hardcovers will survive (remove the pages from the spine w/o cutting the covers off the spine) and can be used with rings, brads or posts through the spine to carry around the pages of the day.

Then trim the bound edges of those using a paper cutter (or a ruler, box cutter and cutting pad.) Or, you can spring for a heavier duty stack cutter and separate the book into bundles of sheaves at whatever size stack it can handle. The QCM-1200E is a smaller version of what Kinkos uses and is about $250 on Amazon--sometimes cheaper on ebay. I think it handles around 250 sheets-probably more given the very thin paper casebooks use. (Note that this thing is kind of big and heavy and needs a sturdy flat surface--it lives on top of my dryer.) Ideally you should also go for an adjustable heavy duty 3 hole punch with a centered handle--decent ones (~40pg capacity) can be had for around $50. Using the stack cutter will give you a much neater inner edge, which is good when you're punching them to put them into the binders.

I try to scan before I punch to prevent misfeeds from rough edges on the holes catching each other, but even when I forget I see maybe one misfeed per 500 pages or so, so not a big deal.

If you're only doing this for school books, it may not pay off to get your own equipment. I think it should be $5-$10 per book to get them debound and punched at Kinkos. But I'm a control freak, and I'm also working on digitizing boxes of old magazines and paperbacks so I can toss/donate them.

Thanks for tips.

I just cut the covers off my case books and took the "innards" over to FedEx Office and have them cut the bindings off. They charged me $1.25 per case book!

Then I made little booklets out of each chapter. This way all I have to carry are the booklets for that day's classes. This significantly reduces the amount of weight I have to carry.

Thought about buying the supplies you mentioned. However, for the number of books I want to cut it is cheaper to use FedEx Office. They do charge a bit for hole punches: $.01 per hole per page. So if you want a 1,000 page book three hole punched you are looking at $30.00. Not worth it. I used a heavy duty stapler to make my booklets. Good enough. After the semester ends I will toss them.

Also the cutting machine they use at my FedEx Office is much bigger than the QCM-1200E. I wish I could get one of those

[RUQRU]

There are many DIY non-destructive book scanner plans on the net:
http://www.diybookscanner.org/



Here is a new commercial product shown recently at CES:

Here is a video of the product in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=annCmIa- ... _embedded#

They seem to market this to students to eliminate carrying heavy books and replace them with a Kindle or iPad.

ION Booksaver:
http://www.ionaudio.com/booksaver
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Quickly create a digital library from your entire print collection.
With the growing popularity of e-readers and digital books, ION has created the fastest and most convenient system for transferring novels, textbooks and periodicals to the digital realm. Book Saver allows everyone to easily transfer their favorite stories directly to a convenient SD cards. Once converted, the books can be quickly transferred to a computer or e-reader. Book Saver is the only device needed to quickly make all your books, comics, magazines or other documents e-reader compatible.

I have not seen one for sale yet so I don't know the price. But I would guess ~$200.00.

The downside of this product is the amount of manual labor involved in scanning a large. Book. But if you do a chapter at time from your case book it is manageable. Obviously, the non-destructive scanner method lets you sell the book when you are done scanning.

The destructive method, as noted above is faster. Just cut the binding and feed the whole book into a high speed scanner.