Magnifier for small parts?

[13brv3]

Greetings,

What are you guys using to be able to see these tiny components well enough to solder them?

A small 10X loupe is fine for inspection, but you have to be within about an inch of the part, so you couldn't solder that way. Well, you could, but you'd burn your nose :p

The small magnifying glasses that typically come on a weighted stand don't have enough positioning range, and still aren't usually strong enough for some of the small stuff. The cheap ones I've tried tend to be somewhat distorted as well.

They make larger lighted magnifiers, on better arms, and you see them in use with jewelers everywhere. Unfortunately, by the time you get a good one, it's a couple hundred bucks.

The top of the line seems to be stereo boom microscopes. If I read the info correctly, they give you much better optics, and also allow more working room for the same power when compared to normal magnifier lenses. They start at a few hundred dollars, and can go way over that.

Just curious was others are using. BTW, if you're under 40, just keep your perfect near vision to yourself :p

Cheers,
Rusty

[jeffs555]

I use a cheap visor type magnifier from Harbor Freight or Northern Tool. It has a couple of flip up lenses. I usually use just the 1.8x lens which gives a focal length of around 8 to 10 inches. You might want to go for a better quality one, but the only problem I have with the cheap ones is the tilt adjustment gets loose so it drops down over my nose. I drilled out the rivets and replaced them with screws so I can adjust it then tighten the screws.

[Bearded Flyer]

I use a pair of cheap, off the shelf, reading glasses. The strongest that I could find. I think that they are +4.00.

Richard

[jeffs555]

Like Richard said, the strongest reading glasses are about +4.00 diopter which translates to 1X (ie 100% bigger image). That isn't quite enough for me. The working distance decreases as the power increases. For the +4.00 diopter glasses it would be about 10 inches. I measured the working distance with my 1.8X visor and it is actually about 6 inches which would be about right for 1.8x.

This page has a good explaination about diopter, focal length and magnification. http://www.bertech.com/product8/magnifi_notes.htm

[13brv3]

Thanks for the comments. I don't think reading glasses are going to be a practical solution for me, because I'm already wearing +2.0 just to get back to normal. I will admit to wearing two pair at once on occasions, but I'd need a longer nose at some point :D

The head mounted visor has merit, and I looked at those online, but it didn't seem like quite what I wanted. I'd like to be able to look up at the computer, or across the room if needed, without having to move glasses or a visor.

That pretty much leaves me with the positionable magnifying lamp, or one of the microscopes. I hate to judge the magnifying lamps by the poor standards of my little helping hands magnifying glass (5 diopter, thanks for making me calculate that :p ), but I can't think of any store that would sell one I could look at. I guess I could ask a jeweler :D

Thanks,
Rusty

[Bearded Flyer]

Rusty,

How about something like this http://sightmart-eye-care-products.stores.yahoo.net/hama1.html (scroll down the page to the clip on Lupe's)

Richard

[13brv3]

Thanks Richard. There are some interesting options on the headset loupe, and telescope loupe pages.

Rusty (need to eat some carrots)

[Ace Barlow]

Try these for small work and you can wear them over your prescription glasses.
http://www.micromark.com/SearchResult.aspx?deptIdFilter=0&searchPhrase=magnifying+glasses

[13brv3]

Try these for small work and you can wear them over your prescription glasses.
http://www.micromark.com/SearchResult.aspx?deptIdFilter=0&searchPhrase=magnifying+glasses

Thanks, but I don't wear prescription glasses, just small reading glasses, so the clipons wouldn't have much to hold onto.

Rusty

[Ralph Walton]

I've dismantled several old pairs of binoculars. There's all sorts of lenses in them and I've managed to come up with some great magnifyers. They're usually just one lens in the end of a tube.

I've got a few different focal lengths. I've got one attatched to an old frame of some safety glasses for hands free soldering

[Rodney]

One of the best and most used items on my work bench is the circleline florescent magnifier. It is a large diameter magnifying glass with a circular florescent light surrounding it all mounted on a jointed arm. IMHO an indispensable tool for these old eys.

[13brv3]

Thanks for all the comments. I think I've got all the bases covered, in my usual overkill manner. I ordered a fairly cheap visor with 4 flip down lenses from about 1.5x to 3x. I also ordered a 3.5-90x stereo boom microscope. I'm planning to do a lot more SMT work, and figured I'd go all out. Now I've got to make a new workbench for all the soldering stuff :rolleyes:

Cheers,
Rusty

[JohnMuchow]

Excellent! Sounds like a great setup.
Which microscope did you pick? I'm leaning towards getting one myself as the highest-power reading glasses and a good light source just aren't cutting it for the smaller SMD chips/components I play with.

Thanks!

[jim_ag3y]

If you really want to spoil yourself, get a boom-type stereo microscope with a magnifying range of around 10 to 25 X . They certainly are not cheap, but when I was still working, I spent hours leaning over one of those things, and absolutely could NOT have done my job without one ! If you are working with SMT and soldered CPU type chips, they are virtually indispensable !


Rusty posted before I got this done. 90X is a bit on the steep side, but as long as you can get down to about 10X you will do just fine. Remember, the field of view gets narrower as you go up in power. If you go much beyond 25X , you will not be able to find the tip of your soldering iron !

[jim_ag3y]

RE: working with SMT. Learn how to use two soldering pens at the same time. I used that trick almost constantly, and was able to "float" the smt devices on the pads by heating both sides at the same time. Once you learn that trick, you will never want to work with a single soldering iron again!

[Arthur P.]

Actually the lighted magnifying glasses on an elbow arm really are not very expensive. If you look around a bit in needling shops / creative hobbies shops / electronics dump shops, you should be able to find them from anywhere between Euro 15 and 50. Some come with only one big magnifying glass, others have an additional small magnifying glass in a corner of the larger one. Some are relatively small desktop reading light type with a lid over the magnifying glass, while others come on long elbow arms which need to be bolted to the side of a desk. Besides the magnifying glass the additional lighting on the subject helps. For that reason I actually have an additional small halogen desktop light on extension arms.

[JohnMuchow]

If you really want to spoil yourself, get a boom-type stereo microscope with a magnifying range of around 10 to 25 X . They certainly are not cheap, but when I was still working, I spent hours leaning over one of those things, and absolutely could NOT have done my job without one ! If you are working with SMT and soldered CPU type chips, they are virtually indispensable !


Rusty posted before I got this done. 90X is a bit on the steep side, but as long as you can get down to about 10X you will do just fine. Remember, the field of view gets narrower as you go up in power. If you go much beyond 25X , you will not be able to find the tip of your soldering iron !I took a look at a few 7X-40X zoom stereo boom scopes, around $300-$400 IIRC.

The two soldering pen idea is great. I have a hot air station though and it's been simply wonderful to use. :D

[13brv3]

I took a look at a few 7X-40X zoom stereo boom scopes, around $300-$400 IIRC.

The two soldering pen idea is great. I have a hot air station though and it's been simply wonderful to use. :D

Hi John,

The one I bought is Ebay item number- 200282739035. As you say, the basic microscope seems to be about 7X-45X with 10X eye pieces. A 0.5X barlow lens cuts that in half, to 3.5X-22.5X, which is how I expect to use it most of the time. Using 20X eye pieces doubles the range to 14X-90X. I found that the extra lenses, and light cost so much that it was cheaper to just get the package that had everything in it.

I would never have thought about using two soldering pens at once, but I bet that would work great for many items. I do have a hot air station, so maybe I won't have to learn to use two pens at once :)

Cheers,
Rusty

[Ron W3FJW]

If we're talking 3, $400 here, why not use a video camera with a macro lens and a video monitor? Could even use a servo and a servo tester for focusing.

[JohnMuchow]

Hi John,

The one I bought is Ebay item number- 200282739035. As you say, the basic microscope seems to be about 7X-45X with 10X eye pieces. A 0.5X barlow lens cuts that in half, to 3.5X-22.5X, which is how I expect to use it most of the time. Using 20X eye pieces doubles the range to 14X-90X. I found that the extra lenses, and light cost so much that it was cheaper to just get the package that had everything in it.

<snip>

Cheers,
RustyWow, you went for the full-featured package! :D
I've looked at that same one, but not the full package, and was pretty impressed. Please post when you have a chance and let us know how it's working for you.

[13brv3]

Wow, you went for the full-featured package! :D
I've looked at that same one, but not the full package, and was pretty impressed. Please post when you have a chance and let us know how it's working for you.

I looked into buying the basic unit, then adding the .5 lens, and LED light, but the price of those two accessories would have made the total cost fairly close to the package deal. For very little additional money, the package has a better boom, additional 20X eye pieces, as well as the camera port on the microscope. It's annoying that it doesn't include a cover, and they wouldn't even offer a discount on the one they sell.

It should be here Friday, so hopefully I can try it out this weekend.

Rusty

[MoFl]

I have these head mounted magnifiers (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2823~r.12268550), and they work well for small electronic parts, althoug the lamp isn't a LED, but a regular bulb. It has 5 different lenses.

At the same store there are more models (e.g this one (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.10066~r.12268550), that looks like tha first one, but with a real LED lamp, and this one (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11259~r.12268550), quite cheaper but with less lenses).

[13brv3]

I have these head mounted magnifiers (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2823~r.12268550), and they work well for small electronic parts, althoug the lamp isn't a LED, but a regular bulb. It has 5 different lenses.

I ordered something very similar to that, but it hasn't arrived yet. Now that I've used the microscope, I don't know if I could make myself use anything else. The microscope is really nice :cool:

I currently have it set up for 3.5x-22.5x, and that's just about perfect. Working distance is 5-6 inches in that magnification range. Between the microscope, and playing with a hot air rework station, I've just had all kinds of fun blowing tiny little components around the workbench :p First time I've ever used solder paste as well. Very cool stuff :cool:

Rusty

[GlennS]

I use a maggy lamp (~AUS$100) or a head magnifier (~AUS$25).
Glenn