Thread: My Microscope

Mackie,

You inspired me. I went on e-bay and won this one for $19.50.

It is a Tasco 1200x

Son of a gun. Good for you. You will be using the smallest magnification you have there. The high mag is so much all you can see is pits. It will magnify so much you can't find the edge. Remember what dogstr8 said. You have what ever the magnification is at the bottom and also whatever the magnification is at the top combined. I know you will love it. Seems like all I have done since I got mine is look at the edges of all my razors and re hone them. First one stone then the other to compare the edge. I have learned sooo much.

Hi Makie,

Somebody suggested on here the use of LED light. That WILL work just fine, as long as its a good strong one.
Myself, I have a Nikon Labophot that I use for my testing that I have adapted to look at my blades with.
I will post some pics from it soon if anybody is interested. Its neat to see the scratch lines in comparison from one hone grit to the next, or the results of a back hone compared to an instroke.

when doing a blade up view, you need to have some sort of holder to keep the blade VERY steady. under magnification, even small vibrations show up as a blurry image. To keep the blade from contacting the lens, slip a piece of paper between the blade, and the lens, and raise the carrier while sliding the paper back and forth until you can feel the paper drag ever so slightly. mark the position, lower and remove paper, and return carrige to marked position. At that point you should be close to where you need for good focus.
have fun, scopes are great!