EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Products => Test Equipment => Topic started by: rkagerer on November 05, 2018, 01:21:31 pm
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I've been researching trinocular microscopes for SMD work and everyone seems to recommend AmScope. Unfortunately these are a bit pricey and/or difficult to source in Canada.
I found scopes that look *identical* under the brand name Walter Products. They're even sold at BestBuy.ca.
I'm guessing all of these scopes are made by the same Chinese manufacturer then branded and sold with minor tweaks on this side of the ocean.
Anyone have experience with the Walter Products scopes and willing to share your thoughts on them? Is it safe for me to pick one up or should I pay more for an AmScope? Will AmScope attachments (e.g. lenses) fit?
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Make sure you buy one with the long arm that can extend beyond the stand, not with a small stand which is only useful to look at insects. Even with that, be prepaired for sore neck and shoulders, those microscopes are not best type of gear for lengthy SMT work unless it is casual inspection once in a while.
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I'm presently trying to find a heavy-duty articulating arm. I want a little more reach and flexibility than you get from the double-sliding boom.
This video was helpful:
This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOPt80HG7No)
The AmScope one seems a bit flakey/shakey. Went to check out that Omano one and found one that uses an Acrobat stand with an integrated headrest: https://www.microscope.com/omano-om99-acro-articulated-boom-stereoscope-with-acrobat-stand.html (https://www.microscope.com/omano-om99-acro-articulated-boom-stereoscope-with-acrobat-stand.html)
Can you recommend anything well-built and heavy duty? I don't mind paying a premium, if it's really solid.
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Aha, here's some inspiration:
(http://img.directindustry.com/images_di/photo-mg/5527-12522082.jpg)
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Unfortunately these are a bit pricey and/or difficult to source in Canada.
I am not sure about prices, but Amazon.ca seems to carry a wide range of AmScope units. All priced in $C with correct FOB CAN shipping and taxes quoted. I was considering one for general use -- not just electronics. I never did pull the trigger, but I think I had what looked like a flexible configuration priced at around C$280 before taxes.
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Yeah they unfortunately don't have quite the configuration I'm looking for. I might just suck it up and get a more expensive package and throw away the parts I don't want (e.g. crappy camera)
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Here's how I have my AmScope set up. To use it I'll just swing it in over my bench, then when no longer needed park it back out of the way. Apologies for the crappy one handed phone video... And I have no idea how to inline a video here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JBa3T0_-d8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JBa3T0_-d8&feature=youtu.be)
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Just copy the URL of the youtube video and post it as if it was a hyperlink. Hint: at the Youtube vid screen, click share then copy. Past that as the URL
https://youtu.be/1JBa3T0_-d8 (https://youtu.be/1JBa3T0_-d8)
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I'm presently trying to find a heavy-duty articulating arm. I want a little more reach and flexibility than you get from the double-sliding boom.
This video was helpful:
This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOPt80HG7No)
The AmScope one seems a bit flakey/shakey. Went to check out that Omano one and found one that uses an Acrobat stand with an integrated headrest: https://www.microscope.com/omano-om99-acro-articulated-boom-stereoscope-with-acrobat-stand.html (https://www.microscope.com/omano-om99-acro-articulated-boom-stereoscope-with-acrobat-stand.html)
Can you recommend anything well-built and heavy duty? I don't mind paying a premium, if it's really solid.
after seeing the shaking of the image on that vid, I'm glad I went with the double arm boom stand.
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after seeing the shaking of the image on that vid, I'm glad I went with the double arm boom stand.
Yeah I'm presently looking into medical armatures (http://www.medicalexpo.com/prod/steris/product-70182-705689.html) to see if there's anything more hefty that could be adapted. Found a guy who built his own very nice DIY arm (https://tinyurl.com/ybxzmadh) but I'd like a bit more reach than his.
Although I'm wary, if you dig enough you can find some Amazon reviews and Youtube comments from people who own the AmScope articulating arm and say it isn't so bad. For what it's worth there was one suggestion the shaking during video recording can be stopped by lightly resting your head against the unit.
Thanks @bson for that video.