Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Upcycling a laser pointer into a digital microscope

I recently found on Instructables.com, a way of making a microscope using a cell phone or an Ipod touch. I wanted to give a try myself, but wanted to make it "more portable" but maybe not so fancy.

The only thing you really need is a lens from a laser pointer, and magically, I had an old broken one that I kept for no reason..... until today.

I unscrew the tip of the laser pointer and here it is:
 At this stage, the only thing you need to do is to make a hole in a piece of plastic to hold this tiny lens:

You just have to put your cell phone on the top of it:


To focus properly, you can put the object on the tip of a bottle, like this and hold the box up and down to get the best picture:

And this is the results:

Wthout the lens:
With the lens, you get roughly 10X magnification if you campare the 2 pictures.


Hours of fun with my kids from now! Send me pictures if you have some.




8 comments:

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  2. "This is such a creative use of an old laser pointer! How stable is the setup when focusing on tiny objects?"
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  3. "I love the simplicity of this idea. Could you suggest some other materials if we don't have plastic at home?"
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  4. "The comparison pictures really highlight the difference with and without the lens. Amazing results for such a simple hack!"
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  5. "What a great way to engage kids in science experiments at home. Have you tried looking at insects or plant cells yet?"
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  6. "This DIY project is both educational and fun. Do you think this setup could handle more than 10X magnification with a different lens?"
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  7. "Your step-by-step instructions are very clear. Any tips for avoiding scratches on the phone camera lens while using this?"
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