Thread: $0.99 microscope

Less than a buck?

I bought it!

100x. 200x, 300x. Now I'm off to find a USB camera for it....they have a bunch listed for $49...

From eBay?

Looks exactly like one I had as a kid back in the late '50s or early '60s. No idea where it is now. Maybe that's it!

I do remember I put it to good use. There are lots of things that are interesting under magnification. At high magnification I found a dedicated light source was required.

I figured a good old "classic" like this would be much better made than a $49 modern plastic one that are often being sold.

Even the cheapest made in China 200x USB microscopes (hand held) go for about $45 or so, and won't have good focus adjustment. And it is not clear whether the magnification is digital or optical (from what I can tell it looks like 10-60 is optical, the rest of the way is digital).

We'll see how my little side project goes....

Mount one of these on the side. And you got yourself a light source.

Originally Posted by singlewedge

Mount one of these on the side. And you got yourself a light source.

$20??? That would blow my whole cheapo scope budget!

More likely I'll get something like this at a local Walgreens. LED lighting is cheap these days.

I hate to p*ss on your parade but you might face two problems.

First, that microscope has objectives that have a very short working distance. The plane of focus is going to make it difficult to get your razor safely in place. This will be especially true for the higher mag objectives.

Second, this scope is designed for transmitted light. That is, light from underneath the stage passes THROUGH the sample on the way to your eye. Unless you are working on modified transparent ceramic blades, you are not going to see anything except the sillouette of the blade. In order to see the top, objective facing side, of the blade, you are going to have to rely on a light source above the blade to provide light reflecting off of the blade. This might be made more difficult because of how close the objectives will be to the blade, as the light will have to be shining almost horizontally and will lead to shadows.

Hopefully, I'm wrong and you'll get some use out of it. In the mean time, watch out for a cheap stereomicroscope!

Originally Posted by Utopian

I hate to p*ss on your parade but you might face two problems.

First, that microscope has objectives that have a very short working distance. The plane of focus is going to make it difficult to get your razor safely in place. This will be especially true for the higher mag objectives.

Second, this scope is designed for transmitted light. That is, light from underneath the stage passes THROUGH the sample on the way to your eye. Unless you are working on modified transparent ceramic blades, you are not going to see anything except the sillouette of the blade. In order to see the top, objective facing side, of the blade, you are going to have to rely on a light source above the blade to provide light reflecting off of the blade. This might be made more difficult because of how close the objectives will be to the blade, as the light will have to be shining almost horizontally and will lead to shadows.

Hopefully, I'm wrong and you'll get some use out of it. In the mean time, watch out for a cheap stereomicroscope!

Good points.

I'm aware that it is designed for bottom illumination, and after I get it in my hot little mitts I will find a good place for an illumination source. I plan to created an angled holder for the razors, much as Tim Zowada describes on his site, so that I would be focusing on the edge so that the main body of the razor will be tilted away from the objective, so working distances shouldn't be a big deal.

Wait, does this mean you're NOT making transparent ceramic blades???

UTOPIAN IS absolutely right on his points.
i have been in that road and let me tell you .
Don't try will waste your time.
you will get the magnification but focus wont be as good as you like.You will need to take out top magnification lens out of the microscope and place usb in that place then again all problem comes out with focus.

hope you will do great
.GOOD LUCK

Ok, well thanks indeed for the helpful hints & warnings of things to watch out for.

$14 delivered, I figure I can't go too far wrong!