DIY microscope - mobile phone and DVD RW drive hack 

"So at this point I'm going to just take everything out that's a screw and see what falls apart" Absolutely had me right there. I love it.

I'm going to take up hobby electronics and saved a couple cd/dvd drives knowing something can be done with the inner workings and now you have shown me one possibility. Thank you.

Great repurposing of E waste. I've thrown so many drives away, but there's still a few in the junkbox ready for some surgery.. I was thinking of 3d printing a support stand for the phone that holds the lens and allows the phone light to pass through alongside. Maybe also with a couple of legs to set focal distance, a very good tool for inspecting pcb's and via's. Cheers, and thanks for posting.

Thank you, that was enjoyable and informative.

Cool, I'm wanting a beam splitter and great to see in a DVD player also. Wondering what the differences are between the optical quality of components between brands and CD, DVD and Blueray RW's? Thanks for sharing!

In the optical drives I've disassembled the lens is mounted on a fixture that is actuated with one or more electromagnets. Have you attempted to make use of that? It is somewhere on my todo list to use it for dynamically focusing a laser or camera. Optics isn't my thing, but maybe it could add a zoom feature to your microscope, or help take a series of images for focus stacking?

Have you tried using heat gun or iron to take out the lens

Do CD ROM drives have the same or similar lens?

How about trying to melt the glue with a Heat gun, to remove the glass parts?

Absolutely fantastic ,thanks very much ,all my life l have wondered if anything could be salvaged from elontronic stuff ,this video has given me a great boost as lve always wanted a microscope but never got round to getting one ,but now........

CD/DVD +RW & CD/DVD -RW manage defects differently. One uses a measurement of how much the disk is wobbling, and the other uses its LASER to focus the beam and burn little tiny divots. A hybrid does both of course, and would tend to have more mirrors and optic stuff. Not sure which (+RW / -RW) does which method, but I hope this helps to know what is available where and what you may have.

I've just tried this out and it works great. Just need to find a better mounting than the tape now. Thanks... this is great.

Thank you, great video and creativity 🌱

I realy enjoyed this video, thanks a lot

asus bw 16d1ht comfirmed! So much detail! Thanks a lot

I wish you would focus in on something more we know what it is for comparing. Like parts of a dollar or a coin. I need something to take picture the equivalent of the date on a penny filling the whole screen. About that size. Will this do it?

Thank you!

i tried it last week, didn't work.. somehow the display only display a blurry blur.. nothing else.. not even a bit of clear image of anything. don' know why.. hence trash the lens already.

What is the distance between camera and object ?

Excellent idea

yes I'll give you 1000 thumps up for this great informative video.

yes this one is much better than lens from pointer thanks and is there possibility to find even more powerful lense somewhere?

I hope you didn't miss the pair of rare earth magnets.

Thanks a lot it's an amazing idea

I tried this and it works perfectly. To hold me cellphone, i just use a PCB holder clamp that i adapted.

Nice!

thank you

👨‍💻 starts 9:50 actually taking the lense out dvd lol 😳👉🕒🕒🕒

the 1000th like is mine, great hack, if I didn't have yet a digital microscope for electronic mod & repair I would definitely use this with a tripod mount to soldering things on the PCBs! Thank you for the share and keep up with the good work!

F##### great!!! Thanks! I have heard that the shorter clip the better.

is the focusing lens useful?

Works great

nice tutorial, waiting for - your another phone camera connected to LCD TV as soldering microscope in @25 cms, thumb up :)

respect make more videos

Not even joking, but I took one of those lenses like the one you pulled out and placed it almost directly on my eyeball but not actually touching my eyeball and I could see the microscopic dust particles floating around in my vision/eye lubricant(not sure what it’s called)… it also had a slight distorted/static/digital-looking in the background behind the dust particles. It reminded me of when you see clips of virus’s under a microscope when they multiply. Rather cool though.

Don't be ashamed of your shaking hand, you are a miracle of thinking and acting meat.

I’ve done this and it’s amazing, unfortunately the new iPhones with double camera doesn’t work so good. But the iPhone 7 worked perfectly

I using chewing gum to place (tempolary glued lenses and other optics) lens on mobilephones. First i take small part of gum and roll it to sumare with something looking like thin needle. Then i bend it to form ring in diameter that is needed press it to phone(around phone camera) and put on it lens/optic i like to use. Its really easy to make and easy to clear and not that easy to get lose not intentional. I regreat that i cant put images in coment. :D Before this method i was make custom holders that i was make from molding plastic or driling in wood but it was huge overkill and it was harder to use in practice( get light etc.) ...in short gum is like miracle or magic ideal for this task.

I have a request, can you make a DIY video that will show us how to make a microscope that you can use with smart phone for soldering (micro soldering)? Because this method has a problem with distance. Thank you!

i just tried a simple 1$ aliexpress jewelers loupe at my xperia z5 rear camera and gives a better focal length for doing laptop repairs. no need for expensive equipment. focal length is about 8 cm. i use the pinch zoom and it works well.

Create you amazing microscope

thank's

......IMHO: If you froze those parts assemblies, before attempting to break apart the glued components, the cold temperatures might allow the glued joints to shatter more readily.

Thank u sir

Gostei muito bom

Don't get brutal but just break it apart. Anyway you can find the same lens in an audio CD player.

Alhamdulillah Thanks for this videos sir i did it :) Thumbs up

Interesting....

imagine if we double the lens in stack. just how DSLR lens be like, would it be better?

I'm Pretty sure, that most people can relate to when 'Random Thoughts' ! Jump into Consciousness..! But Why..?! Anyway, Mine was I think this guy is Quite Creative..! & Next Thought Was. I think this Guy is/Was, a 'Ceramic Tiler' But Why the Random Thought ?! I Had Been Looking intently.. Making The Scope.. His Finger/Thumbs, Are Quite 'Battered.! Skin Peeling, Maybe From 'Lime' In the 'Grout: (WHAT).! How Random Was That.?! M~Dee' (Part Time Tiler)

You can buy a set of lenses designed to mount on any phone. Not only magnification, but also telephphoto in the set. Costs around $7 from most Chinese on line stores or Ebay.

You used the wrong lens, this is more of a macro lens. Use the smaller lens

Gerçekten sonuç iyi denemek lazim

sub'd. usefull 👍

I found wd40 work to soften glue

You need to record the sound after recording video. You kept saying "Ahh...ummm Ahh" it was driving me nuts. I did not thumbs down because you knew what you were talking about. It just needed to be presented better.

hey,,,,, ERRRRRRRRRR

this is total fake video i dn this with my mobile but its nothing blur picture