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 ant’s eye structure because it’s a microscope out of a simple camera or webcam. Isn’t 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.

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.

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 camera’s 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 it’s bigger side faces  the CMOS sensor and now tight it to the casing inverted or if you don’t have any inner casing  the stick it out with hot glue and paint it so that the light won’t 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.

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.

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!