Hi, all,

I'm hoping someone may have some knowledge on a nice quality flatbed scanner that does not stretch or skew the objects it scans? The one I have is just not precise enough as it stretches and skews objects that I have scanned. When I say objects, I'm speaking of items like flat nameplates, electrical covers, etc.

They aren't always just square or rectangle, so the need to be scanned and then traced by me, but when I trace them, they just not quite right. I'm looking for a tolerancing of + or - .010" of an inch, and my bed scanner just ins't that good, (even calibrated).

Thanks for looking-
Dave

I have had the best luck with EPSON scanners. IS there something common I can scan for you and send you the image for testing . That way you know for sure if it works for you.

Just a thought, (;-) TP

I've scanned a few objects over the years, with different scanners. Never had a problem with any of them, really. 0.01 is pretty close though. It may be the method your using to do the scan, rather than the scanner. I've had the best results with the higher scan resolutions, and tweaked some of the other settings that I have to re-learn every time I need a scan (I'm not the best at writing stuff down, or remembering). I do remember that color was no good, so it was either black/white or gray-scale, and then some advanced options tweaking after that. Also, I never crop the scan. I always scan the entire page size, so when I import the pic into the drawing program, everything is correctly proportioned. If your not doing this, it may be where you getting your stretching or skewing. After I get it scanned, and the pic re-sized (proportionally) to a workable size, and import into the drawing program, I will find as many details on the physical part that can be measured precisely, so I can draw them manually, and match them up to the scanned image. This will let you know if everything is working as intended. If the manual drawing matches up with the scan, then it's usually good to go with the other features. Apologies if I went into needless, off-topic detail.

Here are a few scans, just to have a rough visualization. You might be needing something way higher quality. I've never had one that was not a "fill-in-the-blank", so to speak. I always just figured if this wasn't good enough, it was time for a probe.

I find if it is a critical part I paint the object flat black before scanning. Then scan in B/W at high resolution.

(;-) TP

Thanks for the input, and the offer, Terry, and also the scans, Sam, but I would actually need something like a blueprint with dimensions scaled to size that was scanned so I can bring it into my drawing program that I use to trace. That way when when I scale it, I'll be able to see if it stretched or skewed. That would show exactly how precise your scanner is. Make sense?

Thanks again for your time, fellas-
Dave

NO all you need is a known reference to size.  I sometimes use a scale placed next to an item to verify the reference scale. Or a known measurement of something on the scanned object.

(;-) TP

Terry, yes, understood. I was just giving you an example as you asked "IS there something common I can scan for you and send you the image for testing ". So I asked 

Yes, a scale is fine if it has .010 lines, do you have something like that?

Dave

Dave,
Send me a PM with your personal email address and will send you a scanned image.
The image is too big to attach here.
The image is of a 10" long calibrated scale done on a Umax scanner at 300. Importing it into CAD at full size
and taking a few measurements it was off by about 0.020" over 9" and on very close on the indvidual spaces at under .001".
The scale is used for optical allignment.

RICH

Message sent, my friend-

Thanks so much for your time-

Dave