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Thread

Microscopes for assembly

2003-12-21 by Leon Heller

Most newer devices I'm using like FPGAs come in PQFP packages with 0.5 mm
spacing so I'm looking around for a suitable microscope to help with
assembly. A boom-mounted stereo zoom microscope would be ideal, but they are
quite expensive, even second-hand on Ebay, so I'm thinking of buying a
low-cost stereo microscope and making my own boom mount. I don't need as
much clearance under the objective as the expensive units offer, so I
thought that something like the Konus Delta unit here (bottom of page):

http://www.sherwoods-photo.com/konus_microscope/konus_microscopes_fs.htm

at 79 GBP will be adequate. The 20x magnification is ideal for my purposes.
I can manage all the other parts like 0805 Rs and Cs and chips with wider
spaced leads (like 0.65 mm) without any problems using an ordinary bench
magnifier.

Has anyone got any other suggestions.

I don't make these PCBs at home, of course.

Leon
--
Leon Heller, G1HSM
Email: aqzf13@...
My low-cost Philips LPC210x ARM development system:
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller/lpc2104.html

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Microscopes for assembly

2003-12-21 by Stefan Trethan

I have something like that.
It has x10 and x20, the clearance is, lets call it workable.
could be more for soldering but better than nothing.

I rarely use it, for soldering i only used it to solder the bridges
on a amd athlon cpu (to make it faster).

it is no that practical for soldering, my eyesight is quite ok (in close
range).
It is quite good for inspecting other things...

A sturdy boom mount should be no problem, the range in which the focus is
ok is wide enough i think.
Maybe you can build it so it doesn't need an additional desk (like pivot it
to the side/back if not in use)

You will need the light from the top. My unit has through-light too but i
never need it.
Think about buying a more expensive unit with built-in light and
transformer.

Stefan

On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 16:55:12 -0000, Leon Heller <leon_heller@...>
wrote:

Show quoted textHide quoted text

> Most newer devices I'm using like FPGAs come in PQFP packages with 0.5 mm
> spacing so I'm looking around for a suitable microscope to help with
> assembly. A boom-mounted stereo zoom microscope would be ideal, but they
> are
> quite expensive, even second-hand on Ebay, so I'm thinking of buying a
> low-cost stereo microscope and making my own boom mount. I don't need as
> much clearance under the objective as the expensive units offer, so I
> thought that something like the Konus Delta unit here (bottom of page):
>
> http://www.sherwoods-photo.com/konus_microscope/konus_microscopes_fs.htm
>
> at 79 GBP will be adequate. The 20x magnification is ideal for my
> purposes.
> I can manage all the other parts like 0805 Rs and Cs and chips with wider
> spaced leads (like 0.65 mm) without any problems using an ordinary bench
> magnifier.
>
> Has anyone got any other suggestions.
>
> I don't make these PCBs at home, of course.
>
> Leon
> --
> Leon Heller, G1HSM
> Email: aqzf13@...
> My low-cost Philips LPC210x ARM development system:
> http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller/lpc2104.html
>
> Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Bookmarks and files:
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Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Microscopes for assembly

2003-12-21 by Leon Heller

----- Original Message -----
From: "Stefan Trethan" <stefan_trethan@...>
To: <homebrew_pcbs@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 21, 2003 5:14 PM
Subject: Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Microscopes for assembly

> I have something like that.
> It has x10 and x20, the clearance is, lets call it workable.
> could be more for soldering but better than nothing.
>
> I rarely use it, for soldering i only used it to solder the bridges
> on a amd athlon cpu (to make it faster).
>
> it is no that practical for soldering, my eyesight is quite ok (in close
> range).
> It is quite good for inspecting other things...

Thanks, Stefan. Until I was about 40 my eyesight was OK for that sort of
thing (I'm short-sighted), but it's deteriorated since then. 8-(

Leon
--
Leon Heller, G1HSM
Email: aqzf13@...
My low-cost Philips LPC210x ARM development system:
http://www.geocities.com/leon_heller/lpc2104.html

Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Microscopes for assembly

2003-12-21 by Cristian

Try surgical Binocular Lenses. They are from 2x to 6x. Very light (15 to 80
grams) and attached to a normal glasses. I'm short sighted (+2.5) and I use
a 4x binocular lenses.
Cristian

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Re: [Homebrew_PCBs] Microscopes for assembly

2003-12-21 by Markus Zingg

>> I have something like that.
>> It has x10 and x20, the clearance is, lets call it workable.
>> could be more for soldering but better than nothing.
>>
>> I rarely use it, for soldering i only used it to solder the bridges
>> on a amd athlon cpu (to make it faster).
>>
>> it is no that practical for soldering, my eyesight is quite ok (in close
>> range).
>> It is quite good for inspecting other things...
>
>Thanks, Stefan. Until I was about 40 my eyesight was OK for that sort of
>thing (I'm short-sighted), but it's deteriorated since then. 8-(

Maybe that's out of question for you, but I use some sort of
magnifiers that you can attach to the head (don't know the propper
english term) with good sucess. The advantage is that you have your
hands free - well, ok, same with a microscope but you have more
freedom to work.

All I found on google was a link to an ongoing e-bay auction to which
I'm in no way related, but I thought that the picture found there
should make clear what I mean.

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2973756409&category=11373

Markus