Have you seen the mugs that are made to resemble camera lenses that you can buy? I've decided to take it up a notch. Introducing the Kamerakopp project :)
I picked up a broken lens second hand that I'll be converting to a mug.
The next step is to somehow waterproof the insides of the lens and then reassemble it without the optics inside. My idea is to glue transparent plastic sheets to the insides. Not sure how well it'll work but we'll see :)
The plan is to glue plastic sheets to the insides of the various parts before assembling them. Not sure what glue to use or how well it'll work. I'm currently trying out different glues, but haven't found anything that works well yet. If you have any other ideas, feel free to post them :)
As for the lens, I spent 70 sek, which is roughly $10.
My instant though before reading this was to make up some sort of thick fluid plastic, like epoxy resin but I am not sure that is food safe, and seal both ends then set it rotating to coat the inside evenly until it all dries. And you should end up with a smooth cylindrical inside that is water proof.
I really look forward to seeing how this turns out.
Epoxy might not be a good idea if you plan on putting hot stuff into it. I know some of them don't like hot materials, some do.
Not sure how much room you have inside, but mcmaster carr might sell acrylic or poly-carb tube that you can use as the body, then just seal it on one end with a circular cutout. There are definitely food safe adhesives, just not sure which ones.
I've been thinking about different alternatives and I'll proceed with the plastic sheets for now. Managed to find a glue that looks promising today. If it doesn't work I'll have to try something else :)
I took some additional photos of the lens assembly that I might as well share too.
This tube contains all of the actual optics inside the lens. It's a narrow tube inside the lens.
Focusing works by moving the optics inside the tube. The lenses are connected to the small plastic nubs along the sides of the tube. When you twist the outer casing it pushes the nubs along their grooves.
Hey I have an update for you tonight (tonight in Sweden). I've glued the plastic sheets to the inside of the lens. There's been a lot of back and forth with the gluing. I'd glue one section, check it for leaks, and have to redo parts of it. But now it seems to be almost finished!
You can see how it looks for one of the sections here:
Hopefully the assembly won't leak when I try it out tomorrow... Provided it doesn't I'll attach the outside sheet for the top sections and I'm finished. Have to say I'm really happy with the result so far :)