FreeTrack Forum

I just wanted to share this as a new person trying to mess with FreeTrack.

I was able to buy a PS3 EYE at one of those places that sell used consoles and games for about $10.  This is my story of taking the the PS3 EYE camera apart to remove the IR filter and put in a filter to reduce visable light.

I thought it would be easy to remove the IR filter if it was there.

Here is what happened.
I removed the screws that keeps the housing on. There is no need for them. The darn thing was near impossible to separate. It was easy to get the start but it just refused to come apart closer to the base. I ended up with a bloody finger tip prying the $#%#@!# apart. Removing the circuit board was easy. But removing the lens assembly was hard too. One of the screws just did not want to unscrew out. But all that was nothing compared to removing the IR filter. I figured the round piece was an IR filter because it had a slight red tint to it. I do not know for positive that it indeed was a IR filter. I cut and pried and cut and pried some more and chips of glass few about. Not a good idea when not wearing safety glasses. I am near sighted but I just thought the thing was a piece of plastic. It was not.

I finally got it all out. But the area was a mess just like the in some pics you see about doing this kind of thing. I held up the lens assembly up to the white ceiling and looking through the barrel I could see some black flakes. Likely plastic from removing the IR filter. I was able to get that all cleaned using eye glass cleaner and cotton swabs and tweezers to remove the stray cotton fibers.

Then I managed to find an old floppy disk. I removed the film from there and managed to cut a square about the shape of the IR Filer area that is square. Now this is difficult for me as my hands shake when doing tiny work like this. You'd think I had parkinsons.

Putting the thing back together was a trip too. That screw that did want to come out that held the lens barrel on to the circuit board - yeah, it did not want to screw in either.

I get it all together and guess what. I have two screws left over.

Now that I have done all this lets hope it all works when I get my IR LED assembly.

Good luck for the rest, hope you will be recompense with a good tracking at the end.
Did you try the PS3 Eye without removing the ir-filter? Some managed to get it work without.