Dave... I'm getting up in years and the frustrating hand tremors suck! I've lost a lot of fine control that I used to have for fine work like smc components. Not that I wish the misery upon you but I M thankful to see that there are others who struggle with this "wisdom" (age) related frustration
This seems much more clear to look at than a typical magnifying glass. Great find, and great review! I'll be grabbing one of these at the end of the month!
Dave, thanks for the nice review of the microscope. Looks like a nice product. As far as the microcircuit soldered toe pads being offset really depends on the class of the manufacturer's rating of the specific product being produced. I.E. class 1, 2 or 3, etc. That will generally dictate the allowable amount of soldered component deviation of SMT devices.
Dave, I have a similar unit (Toplov brand) and find it very useful. I mounted it on a heavy duty microphone boom so that I can position it above an open radio etc. anywhere on the bench.
i find it amusing that most of my coworkers that work in our rework department and smt have some hand temors. and they still push out a better product than my steady hands.
Dave - Is the stage of the scope able to withstand the heat of soldering? Today, 4-14-23 it is $259.99 on Amazon. What is the make/model of the microscope you received as a gift? Does it feature the ability to use an external monitor and capture images and video? Thanks & 73! John - KK7JBZ
Hi Dave, your old optical microscope seems to be a true binocular, i.e. with two separate object lenses. The microscope under test is monocular, so it loses the information about depth (Z axis). It is not a great issue with PCBs and other flat objects, though. 1300x magnification seems to be an overkill and I wonder how they measured it. For electronic work magnification 5x - 50x is enough. And magnification 1000x and more brings problems with light interference: the wavelength of visible light is about 500 nm = 0,5 um. If 1000x magnified, it shows as 0,5 mm! No optical device can clearly show objects smaller than the wavelength of light, an electron beam microscope in needed to achieve more.
Dave... I'm getting up in years and the frustrating hand tremors suck! I've lost a lot of fine control that I used to have for fine work like smc components. Not that I wish the misery upon you but I M thankful to see that there are others who struggle with this "wisdom" (age) related frustration
This seems much more clear to look at than a typical magnifying glass. Great find, and great review! I'll be grabbing one of these at the end of the month!
Dave, thanks for the nice review of the microscope. Looks like a nice product. As far as the microcircuit soldered toe pads being offset really depends on the class of the manufacturer's rating of the specific product being produced. I.E. class 1, 2 or 3, etc. That will generally dictate the allowable amount of soldered component deviation of SMT devices.
Dave,
I have a similar unit (Toplov brand) and find it very useful. I mounted it on a heavy duty microphone boom so that I can position it above an open radio etc. anywhere on the bench.
Nice bit of kit. Thanks for the introduction and review David. G4VZZ - Eric
i find it amusing that most of my coworkers that work in our rework department and smt have some hand temors. and they still push out a better product than my steady hands.
Dave -
Is the stage of the scope able to withstand the heat of soldering?
Today, 4-14-23 it is $259.99 on Amazon.
What is the make/model of the microscope you received as a gift? Does it feature the ability to use an external monitor and capture images and video?
Thanks & 73!
John - KK7JBZ
The old microscope was entirely optical.
These are great for classroom use as the HDMI output can be sent to a large monitor or projector for the group to see.
Great bit of kit from China.
A nice scope. Thanks. N0QFT
Hi Dave, your old optical microscope seems to be a true binocular, i.e. with two separate object lenses. The microscope under test is monocular, so it loses the information about depth (Z axis). It is not a great issue with PCBs and other flat objects, though.
1300x magnification seems to be an overkill and I wonder how they measured it. For electronic work magnification 5x - 50x is enough. And magnification 1000x and more brings problems with light interference: the wavelength of visible light is about 500 nm = 0,5 um. If 1000x magnified, it shows as 0,5 mm! No optical device can clearly show objects smaller than the wavelength of light, an electron beam microscope in needed to achieve more.