What tiny creatures are living in the street puddles or pond water where you live? You can discover them for yourself using a smartphone and some tinkering!
Requirements:
- Webcam - Lens
- Laser Pointer (Optional)
- Acrylic Plastic Sheets (X2)
- 1-inch thick Wooden Slab for base
- Washer
- Nuts
- Large Screws (X4)
- Microscope Slides
- Microscope Cover Slips
Procedure:
Step 1: Cut the wooden slab as per these dimensions. This will serve the base for our DIY Microscope.
Base DIY Microscope
Step 2:
Now that our base is complete. We can cut the Acrylic Plastic Sheets as per dimensions given below.
Step 3: It’s now complete except the lens. It’s important to choose the right lens. There are many sources that can give good results. A few are listed below:
- Webcam’s isolated Lens
- Laser Pointer’s Lens
- Glass Bead
You can achieve a near 1000X with the Glass Bead.
Webcams are a common product these days and finding a used one shouldn’t be difficult. Regardless the type of webcams, the removal process remains the same in all cases. The Lens is to be unscrewed from the webcam casing.
Step 4:
Add the lens bead.
Step 5: Final Assembly
Few examples:
Gallery:
