Monday, February 06, 2012

Under the microscope

A couple of weeks ago Jeff KO7M wrote that he had acquired a binocular microscope for the workbench to enable him to work with SMT components. Although I have no particular desire to do SMT work at the moment I do have trouble with close-up work due to my eyes' limited focal range and becoming very far-sighted. So I thought a binocular microscope would be a good addition to my workbench too.

Jeff wrote that his binocular microscope was not cheap and from the look of it I would imagine the cost ran well into three figures. The one I got was £30 from a firm that disposes of liquidated stock on eBay. I'm sure it isn't as good as the one Jeff got but hopefully it will be useful. If not I can always start another hobby looking at plants and insects or growing bacteria!

1 comment:

Alex Hill said...

They look very similar to a pair(?) I borrowed when doing a bit of SMT work. They were very capable and only needed a bit of care with setting up the light. I touched the bulb a couple of times when I was looking through the lenses and not paying attention! Apart from the hot fingers it plays havoc with your sense of perspective with the shadows.

I've got a large ish (slightly smaller than an A5 sheet) desk magnifying glass thats sitting in a cupboard if you want to give that a try as well, just email me and I'll pop it over. It was a bit easier for construction as it had a larger field of view.

Alex