USB Microscope

that is pretty cool... bet the kids would get a kick out of putting different things under it...
 
Maybe this really belongs in repair, but I just bought one of these...
they work great for us old farts trying to visually inspect boards, etc...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120482609065

cheers
/Tim
Thats pretty cool.
I know it states the magnification, but since you can answer 1st hand, would you be able to spot a cracked solder joint with it?
Did it take two to three weeks to recieve it as the ad says?

Seriously considering for the same reasons.
 
thats pretty cool. I'm not sure that its not a bit overpowered for working on circuit boards, though.
I bought one of these 20x jeweler's loupes -
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=350253498218
and its plenty for up close inspection of traces on pcbs. Almost too much. A 10x or 15x might be better.
The light is really nice. I use it lots of times to illuminate a board from the back side so i can see a trace thats partially under a chip. IE - if i find a dead pin, its much easier to flip the light behind it, and see if there's a trace attached to it or not. No trace means that the dead pins ok, if there's a trace attached to it, then i need to look at the schems and figure out why its dead, or where its broken.

edit - you can see cracked solder joints all day long with the 20x loupe - being that the magnifying glass starts at 27x, i'm sure you could see them fine. I could see that being really nice for doing smt work, too.
 
I swore I saw something like this at Toys R Us so I did some searching, and, I dunno, you tell me what's wrong with this picture...

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2776728
What?????? Ummmm.....wow. At Toys'R'Us. Just wow.

BTW, for those considering a microscope for board work DO NOT get a biology scope. Those are for looking at transparent objects. You want a metallugy scope. For looking at....metal. And other opaque stuff. The USB scope mentioned would work for that. Though I reserve judgement on the quality of that particular model.
 
I swore I saw something like this at Toys R Us so I did some searching, and, I dunno, you tell me what's wrong with this picture...

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2776728

I don't believe you'll find that on the shelves, I think only on the web. I suspect that this is actually a GOOD microscope, with high-grade optics, etc, etc. You do get what you pay for, especially when it comes to glass. Cheap scopes are OK for some stuff, but you want really good, you gotta PAY for it.

I've used really good inspection scopes before (Mantis was the brand of the one we had), and there is NO comparison. I use a head-mount magnifier myself, which suffices, but nothing I've ever been able to afford compares to that Mantis scope.
 
We have those USB scopes at work and the work pretty well.. No one is expecting miracles from a $40 piece of gear, but they are definitely useful.
We have a "real" inspection scope too (I'm not spending that kind of $$ on my test bench).

They are also fun to play around with...

cheers
/Tim
 
Just a follow up... my USB scope came today (the proverbial slow boat from china!)..
anyway, its very cool IMO.. Here are a couple of pics... one from the scope and one from the macro setting on my camera for comparison.
the microscope has a manual focus wheel, so I could probably have gotten the focus a little sharper, but you get the idea.

Scope
pic.jpg


camera
IMG_3594.JPG


cheers
/Tim
 
Can you change the magnification? There may be times I want something enlarged, but I don't need to examine it on a sub-atomic level...
 
Can you change the magnification? There may be times I want something enlarged, but I don't need to examine it on a sub-atomic level...

You can't change mag per-se, but it has a pretty wide focus range. It will focus from right on top of the board to about 3" out. At the farthest out, one key on my KB pretty much fills the image. All the way in is about 4x that.

Omega Race PCB?

Close... MCR power supply!

Maybe I should start a game... ID the board from "EXTREME CLOSE UP" :D

cheers
/Tim
 
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