Following is a description of my
new cam housing.
If your want to use your modified cam with a T2 thread
adapter on a telescope or if you just want to make use of your SLR camera
lenses with the web cam there might be some hints below.
The housing
I used an alu tube and the corresponding holder to make my new cam. A sketch is shown to the right.
To make an adapter for my Canon lenses I (mis)used an old 2x
teleconverter which had a bayonet ring which could be unscrewed.
The ring could be mounted on the front side of the new cam
housing.
Usually you cannot make thread holes for the tiny screws and gluing
steel on alu is not very feasible. So I drilled the 3 holes for the screws
(3mm diameter) and used the plastic insulation of a 1.5mm household wire
(removing the wire of course) as a 'wall plug' for the screws. This turned
out to be a rigid fastening for the steel ring.
Cam assembly
Preparing the modified cam assembly for installation
requires another reused part - a bayonet cover also taken from the
teleconverters backside.
It was exactly the size I used in diameter and depth. A
hole let the cables go through.
I used acrylic glue to mount the cam PCB to the plastic
cover - but the epoxy of the PCB is hard to glue. I had to wait and hold
the two parts together until the dissolved plastic of the cover was
hardened again (ca. 15 Min). There must be a better glue for this purpose
but I did not had one at hand.
Finally a tape fixed the PCB and does also shield the
cam electronic parts from being touched accidentally.
A double sided tape holds the cam to the alu tube.
Now the tube with the cam can be inserted and mode to
put the picture into focus.
I use the old cam lens to protect the CCD from dust at
all time when the cam is not in use. Of course you have to remove it when
the cam is used with lenses or with a telescope.
And finally............
This is a picture taken on the day of the first light of
the cam with all the modifications shown
above in normal
exposure mode using the Canon 135mm lens.
