Introduction

This page documents the construction of the video spectrometer.

This hardware design will soon be released under the CERN Open Hardware License 1.1. A draft agreement is under development here: http://publiclaboratory.org/wiki/ohl-agreement and should be complete in a few days.

Construction takes approx. 1 hour. Open-source software to operate this spectrometer is available at: http://github.com/jywarren/spectral-workbench

Materials

Everything necessary to make a DIY Spectrometer (let's try to reduce this list!):

• a black VHS case like from Blockbuster
• a straight-edge
• scissors
• X-acto knife
• a pen
• black tape (gaffe or electrical)
• white glue
• hot glue and a hot glue gun
• a letter or A4-sized sheet of stiff black card paper
• a DVD-R
• a USB webcam, preferably over 640x480/VGA resolution, 780 HD is best
• a computer

Construction

A full step-by-step tutorial can be found in this gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffreywarren/sets/72157627998033468/detail/

It will run as a slideshow here, but you have to click the above link to see all the comments and instructions.

A more complete tutorial, videos, and a downloadable illustrated guide are coming soon. Get in touch if you want to help out!

Refinements

• The webcam mounting is not the most stable. What about using friendly plastic, which softens and becomes moldable in warm water, to create a very sturdy base for the camera? In a kit, we could ship an ounce or two for a couple dollars. 28 oz = $50. If it goes wrong you can always warm it up again.