After surfing around looking at how other people modified various inexpensive web cameras, I decided to go and grab one and do the same thing myself.  I found a Phillips ToUCam Pro web camera for $32 at CompUSA (confidentially, I think it was marked wrong, because I see them advertised for $69.99).  The box said it was a "high sensitivity" camera, although there was no actual lux specification printed on the box.  No matter, it seems to work pretty nicely and produces up to 640x480 color images.  I've only tried Mars and the Moon so far, but I expect the other planets to come out nice as well.  I don't expect to be able to do much deep-space stuff, because I don't think it's quite sensitive enough.  Although maybe, as my technique and software/hardware collection improves, and when I make it up to the top of a mountain somewhere, there's still hope...

On to the camera!  Like I said, the ToUCam cost me $32 (hehe), came with several flashy image processing programs, connects via a USB port, and includes a camera-to-AVI grabber.  Not too shabby!  The first step towards astro-imaging-bliss was to find a tiny little hex wrench and unscrew the tiny little hex screws and pull the guts out.  There's not much to the guts, just a little rectangular circuit board with the CCD, a little microphone, and various other little chips surface-mounted on it, and the USB cord.  I tossed the weird 3-legged plastic egg case.

Next step was a stop at the local "Home Despot" to find a more appropriate container for the guts.  I had an old unused Minolta T-adapter that I was planning to use to connect the camera to the telescope.  So, with that in hand, I used it to eyeball things that might work as a case.  After a visit to the plumbing section, I walked out with a stubby, thick-walled gray PVC tube and a shiny white PVC end cap that snugly fit around the tube.  It looked to be just wide enough to contain the rectangular circuit board, and I thought I'd figure out a way to attach the T-adapter later.  Cost for the two PVC items: about $4.00.

Turns out that the inner diameter of the gray PVC tube wasn't wide enough, so armed with a Dremel tool, I made it work by cutting a slot out of the end so one end of the circuit board would lay in it.  I also made a little notch to accommodate the little microphone.  Fortuitously, the thick wall of the tube was wide enough to accept one of the little hex screws so I could semi-securely attach the circuit board.  I made a slot in the white end cap just wide enough to snugly grab the USB wire relief.  Finally, I made the tube even stubbier by cutting it in half so it would fit entirely into the white end cap, and used three screws around the outside of the white end cap to secure it to the inner gray tube.  As I was assembling it all, I discovered the circuit board was just a tiny bit too big to fit into the end cap, so, tossing caution to the wind, I ground off a bit from two corners of the circuit board - I dug into a bit of the sandwiched trace!  And <gasp> I didn't even use a grounded wrist-strap (horrors!)  No harm done (but I may have been lucky).

Next it was time to figure out how to attach the T-adapter.  I first tried super glue.  It didn't work, but it did muck-up the T-adapter nicely.  So I cleaned it up and found some screws and washers and used them to make the attachment.  It doesn't look too sturdy, but surprisingly it is.  The screws sit tightly in pre-drilled holes between the outside of the gray tube and the inside of the white end cap, and the washers grip the T-adapter.  You'll notice that the screw pattern is not symmetrical - I purposely did it this way (ya, right) because the CCD chip wasn't perfectly centered, and I could move the T-adapter a bit to one side to compensate.  The lack of symmetry helps to keep the T-adapter tightly centered over the CCD chip.

After I got it all together, I got the idea to use some parts from an old unused 0.965" universal camera adapter.  The 0.965" barrel holder would almost fit into the end of the gray PVC tube, and after a little Dremel sanding and muscle work, I press-fit it in place.  Cool!  Now I can screw the 0.965" barrel into the barrel holder and use the old 0.965" filters I have!  They are more than big enough to cover the tiny little CCD chip!

Here's some pictures of various attachments that are possible with the T-thread on the camera.  I can hook it straight to the back of the SCT, or to a focal reducer, or to a 1.25" barrel, or to a 1.25" camera adapter, etc. etc.  Dig that ridiculously long rig I screwed together!  I wonder if that would even work!? heh - will have to try it sometime...

One more cheap-o innovation!   Ever see those "blue ice" drink koozies?  I've got one and it fits perfectly around my case!  I have yet to try it and measure the temperature difference, but I bet it drops significantly and may reduce the noise coming out of the CCD (especially out here in the hot desert.)  Those koozie things stay pretty cold for a good hour or so!

Update: I got curious and decided to see just what I could expect from a cold camera.  I put the camera in the freezer for a while, then took it out and hooked it up and took some "noise shots" as the camera warmed up to room temperature.  These are shots taken with the CCD covered and the software set to a high gain, with individual shots taken at the times indicated.  As you can see, while this is not an exhaustive experiment, it does seem to show that temperature makes a difference (see my other Cheap-O Astrocam models for details on Peltier cooling a webcam).

+2 mins.	+3 mins.	+4 mins.	+5 mins.
+6 mins.	+7 mins.	+8 mins.	+9 mins.
+10 mins.	+11 mins.	+12 mins.	+13 mins.
+14 mins.	+18 mins.	+22 mins.	+26 mins.

So, total final cost for the camera, case, old unused 0.965" parts, and drink koozie: about $50!  Not bad for a "cooled CCD astro-camera!"  heh...  Check out my humble Image Galleries and Journal to see some results!  Oh yeah, one more thing - the circuit board also holds a teeny-tiny little red LED on the same side as the CCD chip that stays lit when the camera is "on", and is bright enough to interfere with imaging.  Someone somewhere said they cut the traces to the LED with a razor blade, but the traces are sooo teeny-tiny and crammed together that I decided against that and instead just put a few dabs of black paint on the LED - dimmed it right down to almost nothing.