Table 1.

Steps to Create Web Camera Arthroscope

1. Divide a water pipe into 2 halves (25-cm-long and 15-mm-diameter rigid plastic water pipe).

2. Make a small cut in one of the halves, opposite the camera, about 5 cm from the end. Note that this is where the cable of the camera will exit.

3. Pass the cable of the camera between the 2 halves of the pipe. Note that the camera should firmly attach to one end of the pipe and its cable should exit from the cut created in step 2.

4. By use of electrical tape, reunite the 2 halves of the pipe. Note that tape should be wrapped around the pipe in a continuous fashion starting from the camera end. When approaching the cut, pull firmly on the camera cable exiting from the cut and wrap the tape around it.

NOTE. Some hints should be noted: Step 4 can be used to customize the Web camera arthroscope using different colored tape; for ours, black was used. In addition, to make the Web camera arthroscope feel more like a real arthroscope, it is necessary for the Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable of the camera to exit from the rear of the casing, if possible, not from the center of it. When one is pulling the cable during step 4, the camera will be forced to tilt relative to the pipe and re-create the 30° field of view from the arthroscope. A camera with the cable exiting from the bottom should not be used because this will sit at a 90° angle to the plastic pipe when attached and will not be able to imitate the arthroscope.