Ever thought what you can do with your old CD/DVD drive? Hack it and build a microscope of course! You just need an old DVD drive and a smartphone. I'm using a really old HTC Desire. The camera is crap like shit but works perfectly.
First we need the lenses from the optical reading head. You have to disassemble the DVD drive carefully to get them. Don't touch the lenses if possible and remove them carefully with a needle or something similar. Second step: Take a piece of totally clear tape and fix it directly in front of your phone camera. Third step: Take some awesome photos! There were three different lenses in my DVD drive with different magnification levels.
First we need the lenses from the optical reading head. You have to disassemble the DVD drive carefully to get them. Don't touch the lenses if possible and remove them carefully with a needle or something similar. Second step: Take a piece of totally clear tape and fix it directly in front of your phone camera. Third step: Take some awesome photos! There were three different lenses in my DVD drive with different magnification levels.
Sorry for the crappy images this time. My brother took his nice camera with him when he moved out this week : (
You can get even more out of your DVD drive if you were carefully at disassembling. On my device I found a laser diode (destroyed), two linear rods, two tiny brass/bronze linear bearings, one DC motor, one stepper motor with spindle, two really strong magnets and a brushless motor which may be nice if you find out how to control it. So I think it should be possible to build a huge variety of devices out of 2-3 DVD drives. Just some ideas: Small laser engraver, 2/3-axis CNC machines and any other robot you can imagine!