Fixing dropped compact cameras

Step 8: The limits of this instructable

The camera below had been fixed before, however my friend decided she would then destroy it for good by standing on it after dropping it, so it features twice in the 'ible, this was the end for it. 

I still had a crack at it but the actually rails that the lens parts spin on were destroyed so it wasn't going to work. 

However a solution to this could be to spoof the sensors on the side of the assembly with a clever bit of soldering or some such, you'd probably lose the ability to zoom but essentially the camera could function again if the firmware can be made to believe it's not broken.