Scanning the caps

I developed a new way to scan the caps, which is in my opinion the best I have had this far. I am using magnets, which are attached on a cardboad background (see picture on the right). With a total of four magnets I can attain a coverage, which is slightly bigger than a normal A4-sized paper.

The magnets are glued on the background and over the magnets I have attached a paper, which has a drawn grid in it. According to the grid, I can place the caps to exactly right place, so I can use the PictureCut program, which I have used also earlier. With the PictureCut program I can make one bigger picture into many smaller pictures. You can read more from PictureCut on a separate page.

The magents are not so strong, but they are strong enough to hold the caps in order. This far I have managed to scan all caps I have tried with the system except two caps, which were made of aluminium. Of course too bent caps might be problematic, but the cap has to be in really bad condition to fell down from the magnet.

If you think what the magnet might cause to your scanner, I don't know the answer to that. All I can say is, that it has worked perfectly with my scanner. It does not interfere with the data transmission from the scanner neither does it cause any distortion to the picture being scanned.

The picture on the right shows the final system. It shows my scanner (the cover is open) and the magnet with a cardboad background over it. The funny looking white thing in the side of the scanner is made of polystyrene. It is there to help me to put the magnet system to same place over the scanner. It is made from a transport packing of a computer case with little cutting to make it fit over the scanner.

With this system, it is easy to use the PictureCut program. You don't have to bent over your scanner anymore to place the caps over it, but you can put the caps to the magnet on a table instead. You can also easily put the caps in straight and the caps don't whirl on the scanner.

If you are interested to make a similar system, you can ask me for more information if some part of the system is still unclear. It might be difficult to find suitable magnets. I had a good luck when I run into these magnets in a small pottering store. I could also try to acquire the magnets for you if you can't find them anywhere. The price of the magnets was less than 20 euros and the rest of the material you can probably find from your own surroundings for free!