Microscope Recommendations

After some serious frustration with used B&L scopes, I eventually bought a total of three of these:

My tech and my inspector are happy with them.

Standard for an inspection microscope is something like 7x - 44x. I do a lot of surface mount prototyping and I having a .5x auxiliary objective to give me 3.5x-

22x.

There's probably no upper bound on the price of these things. For one data point, I recently picked up an Omano OM2040LC from

Reasonable price, reasonable optics, LED lighting for portability (uses 3x AA, included), plus a case.

I find that I mostly use the 20x, only rarely needing to shift to 40x. The 20 is good even for 0.5 mm QFP rework and inspection, though the extra mag is nice when needed. It uses a post mount so there's the opportunity to move to an arm suspension if ever required/desired.

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Rich Webb     Norfolk, VA

Anyone use a television with a close-up camera in place of a microscope? If so, how well does it work compared to a microscope?

Hul

It sucks :)

I highly recommend Madell stereo zoom microscope. Not affiliated with them in any way, just a happy owner. I was so pleased with it at work that I bought one for my home lab. The most significant difference from a camera is that it is STEREOSCOPIC. You see everything clear and you can solder under the scope without any problems. 0.5 mm pitch chips are a breeze, 0402s too. And blue wire to a 0.5 mm pin is also easy. Even 0201s are doable.

P.S. Dual arm boom stand is better than single arm.

P.P.S. Only thing missing is a 42mm UV filter to protect optics from solder fumes. Unfortunately it is next to impossible to find 42mm filter here in US. I don't know why are they 43mm here... So one has to buy a filter from Europe. Or from China on Ebay that I did and very happy with the thing...

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I tend to agree with Sergey, optical microscope is better than video for inspecting pcbs/cpts. You may want to look at some of the USB "web cam" microscopes. I don't know how good they are, just that others have used them for inspection purposes.

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price, reasonable optics, LED

I use a cheap 20X Chinese-made stereo dissecting microscope that I bought from a supplier here in the UK. The mechanical and optical quality are surprisingly good.

Leon

There's also the QX5 USB microscope. Not industrial grade but it is made to be used by children so it's pretty rugged. Not what I'd want to use for rework but it is handy for inspection and documentation.

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Rich Webb     Norfolk, VA

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What is the model number? There are a number of these listed here..

Chris

I have what must be the "Original" "Intel Play" QX3 from circa

1998. It's cute and "works" but usable for very few things. It has a very small depth of field, and anything moving outside the plane of focus becomes very out-of-focus very fast. The low power (I forget exactly, maybe 5x to 40x) stereo microscopes I've used are MUCH better in this respect, IMHO a very important feature. I could use two soldering irons on a board (pulling off a SMT resistor or cap by putting an iron tip on each end) easily under such a microscope, but a 'correctly focused' Intel Play thing probably doesn't have enough room to put an iron between the board and the scope lens, even on the lowest magnification.

Perhaps a better video/USB microscope/camera would be usable, but I think it helps to be "looking down" at your work, as an optical microscope usually requires, while handling it.

from

price, reasonable optics, LED

Thanks all for the advice... I ended up w/ an Omano...