The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning

Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.

Day: August 16, 2019

  • Logitech “QuickCam Pro 5000” Ball Camera Disassembly

    Another alignment camera contestant from the Big Box o’ Junk Cameras:

    Logitech Pro 5000 Ball Camera - overview
    Logitech Pro 5000 Ball Camera – overview

    It’s a Logitech QuickCam Pro 5000 with a native 640×480 resolution. For no obvious reason, it seems to work better on a Raspberry Pi than the Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks Deluxe I ripped apart a few weeks ago, where “better” is defined as “shows a stable image”. I have no explanation for anything.

    Remove the weird bendy foot-like object by pulling straight out, then remove the single screw from the deep hole visible just behind the dent in the top picture:

    Logitech Pro 5000 Ball Camera - disassembled
    Logitech Pro 5000 Ball Camera – disassembled

    The stylin’ curved plate on the top holds the microphone and a button, neither of which will be of use in its future life. Unplug and discard, leaving the USB cable as the only remaining connection:

    Logitech Pro 5000 Ball Camera - USB connector
    Logitech Pro 5000 Ball Camera – USB connector

    Inexplicably, the cable shield is soldered to the PCB, so the connector doesn’t do much good. Hack the molded ball off of the cable with a diagonal cutter & razor knife, taking more care than I did to not gouge the cable insulation.

    A glue dot locks the focusing threads:

    Logitech Pro 5000 Ball Camera - focus glue
    Logitech Pro 5000 Ball Camera – focus glue

    Gentle suasion with a needle nose pliers pops the dot, leaving the lens free to focus on objects much closer than infinity:

    Logitech QuickCam Pro 5000 - short focus
    Logitech QuickCam Pro 5000 – short focus

    Now, to conjure a simpleminded mount …