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HOW TO MAKE A MICROSCOPE FROM A NORMAL CAMERA

by samaddon on November 3, 2013

Table of Contents
HOW TO MAKE A MICROSCOPE FROM A NORMAL CAMERA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Intro: HOW TO MAKE A MICROSCOPE FROM A NORMAL CAMERA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 1: Thechnical Know-How . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 2: Stuff You Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 3: $Expense$ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 4: Making! (The main microscope.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 5: MAKING THE OUTER CASING FOR MICROSCOPE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 6: Working Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Step 7: Author Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Author:samaddon ONI World

I make simple!

Intro: HOW TO MAKE A MICROSCOPE FROM A NORMAL CAMERA

Bismillah,Have you ever tried to take a close look of a plant or an ant?Though magnification glasses are able to do a little of magnification but they are not
very close but now I am here with a hack which can easily penetrate your clothes or even you can see an ants eye structure because its a microscope out
of a simple camera or webcam. Isnt it Great! All you need is a simple but good picture quality camera or webcam.This Is very cheap project and even can be
made from stuff around your house. So you must read it step by step to remake it the proper way. It is easy to make and any one can build without any
specific skill. So get ready to make your own.And thank you for reading. If you want to stay tuned to me follow me and please vote for me in the Build my lab
contest and Hardware hack contest that will be a great favor.

Image Notes
1. Structure of an i Phone observed under the microscope.
2. Structure of an i Phone screen observed under the microscope.

Image Notes
1. Structure of a jacket observed under the microscope
2. Structure of a jacket observed under the microscope

http://www.instructables.com/id/HOW-TO-MAKE-A-MICROSCOPE-FROM-A-NORMAL-CAMERA/

Step 1: Thechnical Know-How

Initially there is nothing of much worth. Basically a normal webcam has two parts one is: The PCB part with the CMOS sensor. (Exactly the PCB has a CMOS sensor
mounted on it which receives the image from the lens and it projects a very tiny image on the CMOS.)The other part is the lens which receives the picture from the front
side and the makes it very small at the other side so that it can be projected at the CMOS sensor. Now what we are doing right now is we just invert the lens (means
upside down) and now install it on the CMOS sensor back again. Now the smaller side of the lens receives the image form outside and the bigger side
projects it on the CMOS sensor.In this case the inverse happens the smaller side of the lens magnifies the image (which is outside or the object under observation) to a
big level and the projects the magnified image to the CMOS sensor. This is the whole concept. Well what i used in this project is a bus security camera but now you know
the concept it can be still applied in any camera or even webcam having a detachable lens.Though good camera has a good quality image but still you can use a cheap
camera too.
IMPORTANT: Now there are two factors on which the quality of the image depends these are:
Distance of the object under observation from the outer or the smaller side of the lens.
This is the most important factor if the distance will be more the image will be inverted and if it will be too close the image will be blurry. So it's important to keep a perfect
distance you can yourself adjust it according to you to get a good image.
Light
There should be a proper light to watch the object this is also an important factor the lower the light the worse is the image quality.
Quality of the camera
The better the quality the better the image.

Step 2: Stuff You Need

There are very few things you are going to need to build this project.
Some stuff you may need if any need comes.
WEBCAM.
A small piece of transparent plastic.
8 small screws.
Ruler.
Screw driver.
Permanent Marker.
Pliers.
Tape or Glue.

http://www.instructables.com/id/HOW-TO-MAKE-A-MICROSCOPE-FROM-A-NORMAL-CAMERA/

Step 3: $Expense$
The one and the most expensive thing used in this project is a small camera or a webcam it may cost you around 30 40 $ and the other things are general
tools and most of them must be available at home. I am making a list of materials which is used in this project they are:
WEBCAM : Cost: 10$ - 20$
A small piece of transparent plastic : Cost : 1$
8 small screws : Cost: 2$
Ruler
Screw driver
Permanent Marker: cost: 1 $
Other stuff *

Step 4: Making! (The main microscope.)

So here you go with the making!
Step: 1 :Open your cameras casing and take out the PCB out of it with the lens because it may happen that the lens and the CMOS are not joined to each other by
screws they may be held together by the casing itself.
Step: 2 : Now you have the PCB and the lens out of the casing . Observe the lens carefully in search of thread so that you can screw the lens out from the CMOS sensor
secondary casing or if there is no thread there so maybe you can just pull it out from the CMOS sensor or it could be held by screws. Now take out the lens and remove
the lens casing if any!
Step: 3 : Now you have the lens. You will see that the smaller side of the lens faces the CMOS sensor and the bigger captures image from outside. Now invert the lens
position so that its bigger side faces the CMOS sensor and now tight it to the casing inverted or if you dont have any inner casing the stick it out with hot glue and paint
it so that the light wont come in. Now you are half a way ready!
Step: 4 : Now you can plug it to your computer and test it by bringing it close to any object any then you will see a magnified view of that object. Now if you want you can
make your own housing for
your microscope by steps given in the next step.

Image Notes

Image Notes

http://www.instructables.com/id/HOW-TO-MAKE-A-MICROSCOPE-FROM-A-NORMAL-CAMERA/

1. My camera.
2. You can see the threads of my camera.

1. Screw it out of the CMOS casing.

2. Screw it out of the CMOS casing.
3. Small casing for the CMOS snsor.

Image Notes
1. To take my CMOS casing out i have to open the PCB plate and then unscrew
the casing!
Image Notes
1. Lens taken out.
2. Lens taken out.

Image Notes
1. Opening the screws.

Image Notes
1. I took out the lens casing.

http://www.instructables.com/id/HOW-TO-MAKE-A-MICROSCOPE-FROM-A-NORMAL-CAMERA/

Image Notes
1. Screw in the lens in to the CMOS lens casing up side down.

Image Notes
1. Putting the lens over CMOS inverted.

Image Notes
1. Half way ready. Only the casing is left to make but you can still use it. No
Problem!

Step 5: MAKING THE OUTER CASING FOR MICROSCOPE.

IMG 1 show the design of my case for the microscope.
Now we begin . Measure all the four sides in my case it's a square so i have to measure only one side of it. As shown in IMG 2.
Now trace the marks on the glass of transparent plastic. As shown in IMG 3.
Now cut it down with hot knife in case you are using transparent plastic or you need a blade to to it but i prefer to use a transparent plastic because you have to
make holes in it in the next step so it won't be very easy to make a hole in a glass but if you have sufficient equipment you may use it NO Problem!
Now take refills and cut out four legs of the casing. To do this you have judge that what should be the distance between the Transparent slide and the upper PCB
of camera so that the distance between the Lens and the glass slide will be 1.5cm so that the lens can be adjusted between 1.5 cm space to get a picture in good
focus!So the distance you have judged will be the length of the rods.
Now you have cut out the legs.Now make four holes at four corners of the transparent slide and tight the slide with the Legs with 4 screws.Then if you have holes
in the PCB then tight it also with screws like in my case and if you don't have any hole just stick it with hot glue or something without making any harm to the
PCB.as in IMG 5.
Now you have Finished. Test it.
And thanks for reading! But you must read author tips section to get an perfect idea about how to handle it.And please vote for me in both the contests.

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Image Notes
1. The rough sketch of my casing.
2. The rough sketch of my casing.
3. IMG 1

Image Notes
1. Measuring the size of the camera so that it can be traced on the glass.
2. IMG 2
3. IMG 2
4. IMG 2

Image Notes
1. Tracing the camera marks on the glass.
2. IMG 3
3. IMG 3

Image Notes
1. I made four holes at four corners of the glass slide.
2. I made four holes at four corners of the glass slide.

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Image Notes
1. I took the glass out by cutting with blade and going to clean it up !
2. IMG 4

Image Notes
1. Choose the size of the rods which makes a 1.5 cm gap between the glass and
the lens . so that you can adjust it by rolling up the lens up or down!
2. The size of the rod i used should be of this length to get 1.5 cm distance
between lens and the glass slide!

Image Notes
1. Cut four pieces of plastic Rods from a pen's refill or from anything other you
have of same size of the one i had showed you in the previous image!

Image Notes
1. I screwed all screws and now it's ready!
2. IMG 5
3. IMG 5

Step 6: Working Video

Here is the working video of this microscope and it really works Great!
If you like this project stay tuned to me by subscribing me and vote me out in Build my Lab and hardware hacks contests.
It will be a great favor.

Step 7: Author Tips

Use the microscope gently and do all the making without making any damage to the lens.
Clean the lens and the CMOS sensor gently with towel.
I will take sometime for you to know that how much focus should be needed at different objects to get a good picture.
Adjust the lens slowly because even a slight movement matters for the microscope.
Take pictures in good light or add any light source near to the microscope if possible.
Don's be confused in choosing the camera the one i have used is a bus security camera and you can use a webcam too no problem all of them work
on same principle.
If you have any kind of problem ask me without any hesitation!
And i thank you for reading my instructable. And please vote for me!

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