| This is the Phillips ToUcam 740K remounted in a project box (A). This was quite easy to do because the whole camera was built onto a single circuit board which was held into its case by two screws. I used two bolts each with three nuts to support the board in the project box using the holes in the board through which the original screws went. Originally I used the lens ring off an old SLR camera, but later a friend in the QCUIAG group who has a lathe kindly made me a special ring (B) with an M42 thread on the inside. This is the standard thread used on older SLR cameras, and lenses with this thread are readily available. (A sensible alternative would be the T-thread used by most telescopes and accessories; but adaptor rings to connect M42 camera to T-treaded telescopes are also readily available from astronomical shops.) C in the picture is a standard M42 extension ring. I found the plastic ring (D) in the plumbing section of my local hardware store. They were labelled "¾-inch tap washers", and they have a central hole that is a tight fit for the threaded part of a standard filter (the type that screws into an eyepiece) and the whole washer could be eased into an internal recess in the extension ring. It is my standard way to insert filters into the optical path. (I was lucky. These washers were so useful I later bought a second set. The holes in these are slightly larger and the filters fall out of them.) |
