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Disclaimer: All the how-to directions below are for information only. They are not intended to be sold or used for unlawful purposes. The author takes no responsibility if they cause the reader bodily harm, loss of life, or cause the damage of any property, person, dog, cat, or any other animal. They are presented for information only and all liability is on the part of the reader.
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Materials needed:
1 B&W ccd board with composite output and adjustable shutter switches
1 small aluminum project box or plastic project box
Drill with 5/8th bit
Wire wrap wire
1 DC female plug
1 AC/DC wall adapter to power ccd board
1 c-mount to 1.25 adapter or 1.25 tube
4 toggle small toggle switches
1 Soldiering iron
1 video to usb 2.0 video capture device
HOW TO: I typically start a project like this by formulating what I'll need. In this case the list above is close to the exact items but during the course of putting everything together some other stuff or replacement stuff may be used to make things easier. Laying everything out will help you understand the flow of what needs to go where. Below is a picture of the parts. As you can see I replaced the 1.25" barrel with a C-mount to 1.25" barrel because I wanted to use the native camera C-mount thread to connect the CCD to the project box. Instead of going with the Aluminum project box I went with a plastic one. The benefit is that it is sealed on all surfaces except the front.
Note that I drew a dark X on the box lid. From the center of this X, I also made a circle that I could cut out. This will allow me to thread the 1.25" barrel to C-mount tube through the lid after its cut out. I drew up similar holes on the sides of the box for the switches, power plug, and RCA jack. Positioning is important because all pieces need to fit together without touching. There are ridges inside the box on both sides that will need to be shaven off with a screw driver or sharp chisel.
From the image below you can see that we will need only 4 switch to reach all the shutter speeds that will help us shoot the Sun. The E/E settings are way beyond the settings needed for this project but they are interesting and you can add the extra switches if you would like to experiment further. From the image below we can see that the switch #3 will probably rarely get used. The shutter speeds from 1/60th through 1/500th of a second are the most common for solar surface imaging. To that end we will seat the switches on the box accordingly.
I labeled the back of the switch with an A, 3, 5, 6 just to keep things straight. I also tool a closer look at the switch and checked how it operated. It appears that all the switches on the PC board connect to ground. This will make things easier because all the external toggle switches can be interconnected on one side. That one side in turn can be connected to ground. The Hot side can be connected to the switch on the pc board.
Now its time to Drill out the Box. Double check all the areas for proper fit before drilling. Give the item plenty of space on the inside and place the items ergonomically on the box, or as ergonomic as possible. Prior to drilling the main hole you should put down some starter holes to help guide the bit and keep it exact on track. The starter hole is usually a much smaller bit some where like 1/8th inch.
For the switch holes I used a 1/4" drill bit. The power plug was some what bigger at 5/8" and the plug for the video out was between the two so I use the 1/4" inch bit with it and then hogged it out a little. The main hole on the front of the lid was a little more tricky. It aluminum but the hole is much bigger than a standard bit. To drill out this monster I first used the biggest bit I had. I then used a round file to make the hole bigger. I thought it would take forever but the round file actually hogged it out fairly quickly. Make sure all the edges around the holes are smooth and burr free.
When all the holes are drilled and hogged out its time to check the fit. All the switches and power plugs should be attached to check how they align and fit inside the box. We don't want any surprises when we put it all together. No modification is entirely perfect and there are always some bumps along the way. In this project, for example, because I used a smaller box the post that help secure the lid run really close to the shutter speed switches and power plug. I used my soldiering iron to melt away the sides on them to make the switches fit. I left enough there though to still be able to screw on the lid. The 1.25" to c-mount tube fits nicely in the lid and the video out also fits nicely.
With all the pieces in place its starting to come together quickly and the image above is what the finished camera will look like. The ccd on this model is a BW type and it has 570 lines of resolution. The one down side is that it is interlaced. This means that every other even numbered line of pixels is read on the first pass then the odd lines get read on the second pass. Its not ideal but for 35$ its a steal. The next step is to removed the switches from the box and clean the surfaces with Alcohol. This will get them read to paint. Because this is a solar camera I chose to paint it white. I sealed up the holes from the inside with tape and also put tape over where the lid would go. This will keep the inside black. White paint will also keep the outside cooler in the summer months.
I use Krylon because it drys ultra fast and just seems to coat better. When all the parts dry it time to start putting it all together. I started by putting the C-mount to 1.25" barrel on the front of the lid. I found that the metal one that I was going to use did not thread far enough in to sandwich the lid between the ccd and the barrel. It left the lid loose. I quickly found a plastic one and it worked perfectly.
With the ccd board secured I concentrated on the wiring. This is the part that requires alot of dexterity as the soldering requires a fine touch because the points are very small. It is a good idea to lay out the wires next to the switches and get all the lengths correct. It is also a good idea to twist pairs of wires together to keep them together.
Below is an image of the Auto gain switch with the wire attached. All the wiring for the switches was done external to the case. The video out and power was done after I had put them into the case.
The image below shows the wire used to connect the grounds on all three shutter switches at once. I started by stripping off the end of the wire then I jumped up and stripped 1/2 inch up the wire and separated the insulation but did not remove it. I then did it again until I had 3 bare areas. These areas will be soldiered to the grounds on all 3 shutter switches. The other end of the wire will go to a ground point on the ccd.
The image below shows the ground wire connected to the 3 switches.
After this connection is made the three active wires can be connected to the shutter switches. I twisted the 3 wires together but marked which was which so that would not get confused after twisting together.
With all the wires connected to the switches we can now connect them to the ccd board. The ground area of the ccd board runs around the outside parameter of the ccd board. Slightly scratching this area will help create a point to soldier the ground wires to. At this time the switches on the ccd board should be setup to where the 1 (autogain), 3, 5, and 6 should be switched off. This will allow us to control their activity by using the remote switches. All the other switches on the ccd board should be left on unless you have extra switches connected for experimentation.
On the back of the small ccd switch box are pins. Connect the appropriate wire from the external switch to the pin it corresponds to. After this is complete connect the ground wires from the Autogain switch and common ground from the shutter switches to the ccd ground points.
With all the connections made and double checked its time to put the lid on the camera and screw it down.
Below is our finished Solar Camera.
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