Kids' digital micro to the rescue again (bevel images)

Fooling around with an antique store blade that shaves, but pulls in a few spots, despite following the recommended steps. Pulled out the kids' digital microscope to check out the bevel.

First look didn't seem particularly bad. A decent polish with a few deep scratches that need ironing out. (Note, the very apex of the bevel isn't jaggedly, that's just me forgetting to clean carefully before picking up the micro)

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...eresbevel1.jpg

A look on the other side identifies the likely culprit(s). I think I spy 3 microchips in this snapshot.

http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...eresbevel2.jpg


It also shows me that I need work evening out the honing stroke, as the pull stroke has resulted in a fairly polished bevel, but the push stroke hasn't.

But for the roughness, I could live with a couple of microchips; the shave is what counts for me. Here I think a little extra time on the Naniwa 5k should do the trick; the Nani 8k is probably too fine to get it done within a reasonable time. The chips don't seem big enough to go down to 1k, and I don't have a Nani 3k (yet!)

This may have solved the mystery. Thanks, kids!

that microscope makes real good pictures.
what kind is it?

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Originally Posted by 0livia

that microscope makes real good pictures.
what kind is it?

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It's a Veho, this one magnifies up to 200x. You can get one here for 79 shipped. Veho VMS-001 200x 1.3 Megapixel Digital USB Microscope in Digital Microscopes at JR.com

You definitely want to get the model that comes with the stand, because images get shaky at that level of mag.

Got this for the kids, but have used it a couple of times to check out edges. That radio shack deal is a challenge to use.

:HJ . Yarrr, there be a fine maikroscop.

How close to the microscope do you have to set the blade. Can there be ~2-3cm clearance from the lense to the blade (I guess you must also set the blade on the table) for it to picture correctly?

I think it's amazon uk carries it for those of us in Europe

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Originally Posted by Basset

It also shows me that I need work evening out the honing stroke, as the pull stroke has resulted in a fairly polished bevel, but the push stroke hasn't.

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THAT is the greatest advantage of magnification--the fact that you can get instant feedback on your honing. The use of a microscope gives you a much better sense of what you are doing, to the point where eventually you will not need it near as much. I used to worry that I was using the scope too much as a crutch, but now I don't worry, I just hone. I don't need to use the scope as much as I used to after the initial evaluation, but it's great to still be able to go back to it if something seems odd.

Magnification just plain makes honing easier!

No razor leaves my home without being inspected under the stereo microscope. I always take a peek to verify that my bevel's indeed ready before I continue with the finer honing stages. And I have another look after the test shave to see how things are holding up.
So far, I have never failed a test shave if an edge produces a "silent" HHT and if everything check out at magnification.
I still perform a test shave before I send out a freshly honed razor, because that seems appropriate, but it's a fairly redundant practice when a razor passes those two tests.

(disclaimer: these methods to probe the qualities of an edge work for me, in conjunction with my hones and my honing strategies. I'm not claiming that they work universally the same for everyone)

No microscope has ever honed a razor, but they sure can take a lot of guesswork out of the equation.

Bart.

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Originally Posted by ursus

:HJ . Yarrr, there be a fine maikroscop.

How close to the microscope do you have to set the blade. Can there be ~2-3cm clearance from the lense to the blade (I guess you must also set the blade on the table) for it to picture correctly?

I think it's amazon uk carries it for those of us in Europe

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You can magnify from over 6" away, but the magnification drops. The eyepiece and LED lights are protected by a plastic sleeve that maintains a distance of at least 2 cm from the object. You can see this in the pix.

I have been looking around for a microscope (as the light went out on my Radio Shack model).

Here are a couple I have been looking at:

44320 Celestron Biological Microscope with Digital Camera, 600x Power, Electric Illuminated & USB Interface

and

44302 Celestron Handheld Digital Microscope, 10x / 40x / 150x Power, LED Illuminated, with USB Interface.

comments?

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Originally Posted by Pyment

I have been looking around for a microscope (as the light went out on my Radio Shack model).

Here are a couple I have been looking at:

44320 Celestron Biological Microscope with Digital Camera, 600x Power, Electric Illuminated & USB Interface

and

44302 Celestron Handheld Digital Microscope, 10x / 40x / 150x Power, LED Illuminated, with USB Interface.

comments?

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I've been pondering the 44302 as well and was thinking about posting a new thread asking about it. Maybe it makes no difference but since this one has a 40x setting, I thought it might work a little easier than the Veho. But then I really don't know much about these scopes.

The 44320 I hadn't looked at. That might be the way to go. You wouldn't have to have a computer to look at the edge but when you wanted to take a picture you could. Plus you'd have a nice steady platform to pull the blade across.

Anyone have experience with these scopes?

I have been using the same microscope for a while and it has helped me to verify various stages of the honing process. It seems the closer the head is, to the blade, the better the resolution. I seem to get a really grainy picture as I move the head away and increase the power. Great tool for the money, though I am not sure it would be economical to own unless you were honing a lot. For just a few blades, the Shack version seems to work just fine IMHO.

Ray

Pyment-
Those microscopes are transmission scopes, used for cellular microscopy and such, and will not show the bevel of a razor. Also, good scopes at this magnification are very, very expensive- the optics in these are likely to be a little wonky. The advantage of the cheapie toy scopes is that they are all reflective, and therefore illuminate from above the objective.
You might look into good stereo dissection scopes, or other scopes that have the light source above the stage.

The 44302 claims

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The microscope is ideally suited for examining objects such as coins, stamps, rocks, relics, insects, plants, gems, circuit boards, various materials, skin, and many other objects. Also, you can examine specimen slides at low and high powers.

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The 44302 has

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Top and bottom electric illumination

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its only review says

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This was a gift for our son-in-law. He was very happy with it and has already been using it. He uses it to look at bugs, leaves, small flowers, etc.

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The "top illumination" is a light pen... you need powerful, diffuse light at 600x +. Something like this.

It might seem ridiculous, but I promise you, this thing is WAY to cheap to work effectively....

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Originally Posted by Pyment

I have been looking around for a microscope (as the light went out on my Radio Shack model).

Here are a couple I have been looking at:

44320 Celestron Biological Microscope with Digital Camera, 600x Power, Electric Illuminated & USB Interface

and

44302 Celestron Handheld Digital Microscope, 10x / 40x / 150x Power, LED Illuminated, with USB Interface.

comments?

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The 44302 Celestron will do just fine if looking at honing is what you're after. The price is very nice; when I bought my Veho (see first post in this thread), that model was about $80. The Veho goes to 200x, but you can always zoom a photo from the Celestron and should receive similar results; both are 1.3 megapixel.

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Originally Posted by BKratchmer

The "top illumination" is a light pen... you need powerful, diffuse light at 600x +. Something like this.

It might seem ridiculous, but I promise you, this thing is WAY to cheap to work effectively....

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I really have no intention of looking at my razor under 600X. It would drive me nuts.

150X would probably be the max.


BTW the same scopes are available from Walmart

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pyment

I have been looking around for a microscope (as the light went out on my Radio Shack model).

Here are a couple I have been looking at:

44320 Celestron Biological Microscope with Digital Camera, 600x Power, Electric Illuminated & USB Interface

and

44302 Celestron Handheld Digital Microscope, 10x / 40x / 150x Power, LED Illuminated, with USB Interface.

comments?

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There's one possible problem that might or might not apply for biological microscopes (I fiddled with one when I was kind. Long time ago) : Light source and direction. Some of those things are designed to be used so that the light comes underneath through the material. I don't think this would work with steel. However, that model does have a electrical illumination above as well, but that means always sticking that pen there for illumination. You can decide if that's a problem.

They look good otherwise