This is the Klip Snap Book Scanner. We have built this device to allow users to capture bound books and documents up to A3 when spread open. What we have focused on is delivering the best experience of more expensive scanners with the affordability of a document camera like the SV600 or Czur devices.
What is the Klip Snap
The Klip Snap is what we call a book-scanning cradle. It comes with 2 separate elevators for each of the cradles, that allow you to move the book higher or lower into position. This compensates for each side of the book, so once you have set this into place, the glass plate will come down and perfectly flatten both pages. Hit scan, and you will achieve the perfect image. The main difference to flatbed scanners is that besides this book cradle, you will scan books facing up. So the operator only flips the page, he doesn’t have to pick up the book for each scan.
To achieve quality scans, we have integrated a glass plate that has low levels of iron in its composition. It is a great step to achieve better transparency, therefore better image quality, and more accurate colors. Image capture is more reliable when you use this kind of glass plate. As you know, the accuracy of the searchable PDF you generate from the book pages, improves significantly when the page is well flattened.
One thing that is a bonus is that the glass is tempered, for better operator security. It’s tough to break it in normal circumstances, and if it breaks, the risk of an accident is minimal.
How we developed this book scanner
We will start with the book cradle. Every professional book scanner has an adjustable book cradle, and the Klip Snap is no different. We used black acrylic for the plates, which will last a lifetime if used properly. Below, we have fitted 2 elevators that can sustain the weight of just about any standard book that you can find. As we have mentioned, these will move up and down, according to your needs.
The document size we target with our device is up to A3. One of the reasons we have chosen this, is because of the image capture cameras we use. The SV600, or the Czur, either the ET models or the Czur Aura, are optimized for this scanning size. So we have adapted our book cradle to this size. The also include proprietary software with various processing tools, so please make sure to check before selecting your planetary document scanner.
Another thing we thought about was the possibility to spread out the 2 cradles, for books that have a thicker gutter. These will move sideways when required and can be adjusted independently. This is a unique feature, especially in this price range. Most of our users love this, as it allows them to play a bit and get better scanning results.
The other thing we thought about was durability. This cradle is built from industrial-grade aluminum, so that you can scan as many books as possible, and the cradle will live on forever. We have done our best to make this a professional-grade device and only used plastic parts where it was possible.
This product is the result of everything we learned about book scanners over the years. We have taken each aspect that we think improves the quality of the book scanning process and maximized it. But we have taken into consideration the price, so we focused on delivering a product that is also low in overall cost. This means a low purchase price and also zero to minimal running costs.
What are the target customers for this scanner?
The simple answer would be that every individual and institution that needs to scan books, will find the Klip Snap very useful. But to get into more details, here is where we think our cradle will shine.
Archives and libraries are logical customers when you consider a book scanner. For archives, you can use the Klip Snap either as the main book scanner for digital archiving purposes, such as scanning bound documents, or the occasional walk-up scanner. We have customers using the device in both of these cases. For the first task, they have multiple devices, which are connected to a centralized ECM. All the scans go to a central server and from there these are uploaded automatically in the document management system.
For walk-up scanning, in libraries we have installed the Snap in reading rooms. Readers take the books and scan from them the pages that they require. Because the scanner is so easy to use, there is a minimal learning curve, so users are very happy to find out they don’t need to invest a lot of time in learning the device.
Scanning service providers are the other major customers. They love our product, as they can buy a lot of them quite cheaply and scale up their scanning capabilities. We have seen customers buy 20 at a time and with operators, they would be scanning almost nonstop. This is good to see as they take our book scanner through hell and back, and our device just keeps on going. It’s a reliable product and scanning providers need this reliability to keep up with the scanning demands.
Private individuals are also happy to buy our scanners. A lot of them already have a Ricoh SV600 or Czur, but are complaining about the lack of quality. So they buy the Klip Snap Book cradle and are impressed by how predictable everything becomes. This is one of the main selling points of our cradle, it makes your book scanning experience much more predictable.
When should I buy the Klip Snap?
You should buy the Klip Snap when you have more books to scan and are not satisfied with the scanners you are using. If you are using a Ricoh SV600 or Czur, and the book fold correction feature is not working properly, then the Klip Snap will significantly improve this. Your scanning process will become much more reliable than it was before using our device.
If you are an archive or a library and you want to give users the chance to scan book pages easily. A device that allows them to capture pages with a very steep learning curve. Book scanning does not have to be complicated.
Lastly, if you are a scanning service provider and want to scale up the digitization of bound documents in your projects, this is the perfect device for you. It’s very cheap and reliable, so your operators will love it. Everything gets more predictable so you can achieve your digitization KPIs.