[hpsdr] microscope?

[Al N0tvj]

In response to your question about Microscopes and Ring Lights.

I have been using one from the "The Microscope Store" https://www.microscope-store.com

The  model I bought about a year ago is a Stereo Boom Trinocular Microscope (OM2040TJW11) 
It was priced at  $595.00 + $5 shipping at that time.  I bought the Trinocular version in order to allow a video camera 
 to be attached for a larger field of view while soldering or positioning parts on the solder mask prior to
heating them.  With my 65 year old eyes the view on a 21 inch flat screen can't be beat.
The Microscope  came with 20x-40x lenses which is too much magnification , I bought some 5X and 10 X
which work much better for SMT work.
I bought a natural light ring from a local model / craft store which fits right on the bottom of the Scope
and works very well to light up every thing. It was about $75 if I remember right.
The other items I have found very helpful is a set of test tweezers from MCM which allow you to
pickup the SMT passive parts and verify the value before placing it. The last item is a portable Infrared
thermometer by Raytek for measuring temperature from a distance with out touching the parts.
Of course you also need whatever soldering station you prefer. I use a Hot Air rework station by 
Circuit Specialties together with a standard soldering iron most of time. If the board is one with a solder mask
I sometimes use Cash Olson's method.

If you are interested, I can put photos of my set-up in the photos / files section so you can see one of my soldering stations.

Al White  N0TVJ



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