My Microscope

I was recently looking for a small microscope on ebay and found this thing. I got it for less than twenty dollars. There was only one pic of it so I guess everyone was suspicious of it. It has a patent date of 1915 and it is really heavy. Must weigh 12 to 15 pounds.
I put on rubber gloves and cleaned it with alcahol. I removed everything. I even took out the lenses and cleaned them.
It has two 25 X lenses and one 60X lens. I put a razor under it that I tried shaving with. The razor was just ok and needed a little more work to be really sharp.
When I looked at the edge under the 25X, I was amazed. There were nicks and the edge looked like a saw. And I thought the thing was sharp.
Needless to say. I am very pleased with the microscope. I am on cloud nine. Wow. What a stroke of luck.

Gratz on the find and for the right price as well!!! enjoy your new toy :)

Lucky find. You'd be amazed what you notice with a magnifier and microscope.

Hi mackie,

Nice scope. Have you seen this Zorb digital microscope available at Amazon. Looks pretty cool.

Amazon.com: Carson Zorb USB Digital Microscope with 35X Optical Zoom, Safari Green: Camera & Photo

I looked at all of my razors under my microscope and found the worst one. I then went back to the stones starting with my 6000 and re worked it and kept checking it under the scope. Now it is really in good shape. I can only say I wish I would have had this thing a long time ago.. I have a 20x optivisor but it was not nearly strong enough to see what I am seeing now. Incredible !
After honing, I checked it and then stroped it and the strop cleaned up the edge even more. The canvas didn't seem to do anything at all but the leather did. I am going to do a little more experimentation with the canvas but I don't think I am even going to fool with the canvas any more unless I can see some improvement from it.

Mackie,

That is an absolutely beautiful machine. Thanks for posting. Now I know before I start honing that I need one of these.

Cheers

Well, you don't actually need one but it sure has helped me .

great find! Its very similar in age and desighn to the old one that I use. A couple of things that may help if you are new to using a 'scope...

1. the lenses you mention (25X and 60X) are called the objective lenses. The one at the top that you look through is the occular lens (commonly 6X or 10X) and the overall magnification is the multiplied product of the two (ie: 10X 25 = 250 times). I only ever seem to need to use the smaller lens.

2. To save the lenses and your blades, develop the habit of only moving the carriage down significant distances when you are not looking through the scope... ie: take your eye away and watch from the side so you don't ram the lens into the blade. then put your eye back up to the scope and bring the carriage up until things are in focus.

3. Focusing on the edge when looking straight onto it (ie blade pointy side up) is trickier than looking at the side of the blade, but I find it usefull as a sharp shave ready edge appears as nothing more than a very fine line with no visible width to it. If you can see any width then that part of the blade needs more work.

4. This style of scope is designed for looking through translucent slides with light from below (which doesn't work for our application). You need light from above. I use a bright desk lamp at night but find a table in bright daylight near a window works best.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dgstr8

great find! Its very similar in age and desighn to the old one that I use. A couple of things that may help if you are new to using a 'scope...


4. This style of scope is designed for looking through translucent slides with light from below (which doesn't work for our application). You need light from above. I use a bright desk lamp at night but find a table in bright daylight near a window works best.

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How about adapting a small light to the front of the microscope - maybe even LEDs?

A lot of good info. The occular lens is a 10x. Thanks. This thing is a really great toy.

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! :borg: