As I mentioned yesterday, we were enable to extend the USB on our microscope camera we had been using for downward vision. This ended up being a huge benefit for us because after looking at the images from the ELP camera (same used in Jasons reference machine) we were blown away at how bad the USB microscope was in comparison to the ELP. So, we went to work designing a bracket to mount the ELP, We recessed in the PCB so it would nice and flat, turned out great.

The camera I bought is this one:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221448995232?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

They have them all over ebay and amazon. I've seen the 5MP versions as well, mine is only 1MP but I almost think the lower resolution will mean easier/quicker image processing? The picture is beautiful, even with only average lighting conditions.

The image quality and focus of the endoscope/microscope is not even comparable to the ELP. In addition, the endoscope/microscope did not have the same low light characteristics. Finally we were not able to extend the microscope USB cable enough to route through our cable chain. I had originally planned on only using the ELP on the upward looking camera, but now I may use it on both. I still need to run some PNP jobs with the new camera, but it looks pretty good so far.

With the new camera in place we were able to return to getting the cable chain wrapped up.

We're now getting a mount together for all the plumbing and we can return to more testing in a more final type configuration. Wishing there were more hours in the day.