USB Webcam mounted in a 5.25" Drive Bay
I had a IBM webcam sitting around begging to be used. I opened the case up and noticed how small the board and lens was.
I cut off the end of the USB connector and disconnected the other end from the board.
I started to cut a hole in a plain 5.25" drive bay cover. I first traced the threaded portion of the lens on to the back of the cover, then proceeded to cut away at the plastic with an Xacto knife, until the hole was large enough.
I started to screw the threaded portion back onto the board after mounting on the cover. I turned a little too hard and the lens snapped.
Not good.
I also happened to have an Intel USB webcam lying around. So, I unscrewed the case and took a look to see if it would fit.
It would fit, however, the connector on the Intel camera was much smaller than the connector on the IBM, so I would have to cut and strip another wire.
I prepared the Intel camera for mounting. I had the camera, the drive bay cover, a rubber washer (to hide the jagged edges on the hole) and the threaded lens.
I used a little bit of blue electrical tape to hold the board to the cover.
Here's the camera mounted in the cover, and the rewired connector. The connector is one of those 4 pin jumper-style connectors that I cut off of a CD-ROM to sound card cord. The wires from the USB camera were arranged according to the jumper pins on my motherboard, as this camera would be connected internally, directly to the pins for one of the "front mount" USB connectors.
The camera in my computer; hooked up and ready to go.
You can view the current image on the front page, or right here:
I'm currently using Fwink by Chris Lundie to capture images every half hour.