Project #1 - Projecting a Microscopic Image

An important (self-imposed) criteria of this first project is that I make it from things available in my garage, house, or shed. That still gives me a large and varied selection of materials. I needed to be able to both present the project to the class and have documentation for my website.

My first find was an old RCA video camera with a lens with great macro capabilities. The problem was that the tape deck it plugs into no longer works.

I thought about watching an ant farm, but gave that up from a logistics standpoint. And I did not have an ant farm. Next I found my Vivitar enlarger in the closet, which has an excellent stand. I built an adapter for the camera to mount where the enlarger head normally would mount. I also found in the same closet two microscopes. My project was beginning to form. I only had to be able to find a suitable focal length and/or lenses to connect the camera to the microscope.

I built a power supply for the camera from an old Radio Shack 12-volt power supply to which I mounted a connector for the camera, one for composite video (The camera is analog.), and one for audio (since I was drilling holes and might need the audio feed at some later time).

Finally (see the documentation), I discovered that the enlarger lens between the camera and the microscope worked well. I ground the cover off of an old integrated circuit for something to show the class.

The moral: Never discard working junk!