Advice for scanning docs

[Steven Hirsch]

On Mon, 27 Sep 2010, Tony Duell wrote:

>>
>> On Sun, 26 Sep 2010, Steven Hirsch wrote:
>>
>>> All,
>>>
>>> I'm trying to scan some documentation on "IBM PC" sized 3-hole paper.  For
>>> some reason the scanner is prone to pulling multiple sheets through when
>>> doing the reverse sides.  Doesn't seem to have this issue when doing the
>>> facing side.  I haven't seen this with US letter size paper, either.
>>>
>>> Wondering if anyone has any tips for avoiding this?
>>>
>>> The scanner is a Umax Astra 2400S w/ Umax sheet feeder.
>>
>> The first thing that comes to mind is static cling.  Check the room
>> humidity, if possible, and/or get some antistatic spray.
>
> My thought is more mechanical. Is there a noticable burr round the holes
> in the pages (some manuals are prone to this) which is more likely to
> catch with the pages one way up or one way round?
>
> Have you tried scanning the back sidees with the pages rotated by $\pi$
> (and then correct in software later). It may be they slip more easily
> that way.

Great input, everyone!  Turns out that Al and Tony had it nailed.  I 
rotated the paper 90-degrees and ensured that both front and rear scans 
pulled from the non-punched side.  Now I'm getting perhaps one or two 
snags out of every 100 pages - easy enough to correct after the fact.

I'm quite impressed with 'gscan2pdf' on my x86_64 Linux box.  A little 
quirky to setup, but has all the features you could ask for.

Steve


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