Chaitrali Bhide

Day 1 - 11th January, 2013 - DIY Microscope

The class started with us teaming up to make a microscope using a web-cam. The aim was to observe movement in murky, polluted water through this microscope.

You will need: 1. Web-cam 2. Laptop 3. Screwdriver 4. Fevi Kwik (Instant Adhesive) Once you've connected your web-cam to your laptop and installed the software, check to make sure its functioning efficiently. Unscrew the casing of the web-cam and invert the lens onto the photosensitive chip. Hold the lens close to a screen (e.g. laptop screen), and keep adjusting the placement and distance till RGB pixels are displayed on the laptop through the web-cam microscope. Fix the lens to the PCB at this spot. Voila! Now you're free to create any mechanism to operate the microscope more efficiently.

Our group fitted the microscope to a strong base, and created a slider above it to adjust distance of the glass slide from the lens.

Unfortunately, the instant adhesive formed a layer on the lens, which blurred most of our visibility, and we were unable to obtain a clear image of any specimen.

We later had a skype call with Sachiko Hirosue. She introduced us to some of the past projects and future ventures.