Lighted magnifying glass for 0201 (0.6 x 0.3mm) RC and 0.5mm leadless chip

[Wilson__]

New to SMD.  Please advise, is lighted magnifying glass useful for imperial 0201 (0.6 x 0.3mm) RC and 0.5mm leadless chip (in addition to proper microscope)?

What LENS SIZE?  What MAGNIFICATION?  Desk mounted biggest unit can be 6 or 8 inches diameter.  Seem the big one can have stereo vision if both eyes covered by the big diameter lens.

Many thanks

[pastaclub]

Not useful.

I have one that looks like the one in your photo and I mostly just use it as a desk lamp and rarely look through the lens. If so, to read very small silkscreen or the marking on an IC. For anything else, the microscope does a much better job. If you have a microscope with ring light, you may find yourself hardly ever using such a glass.

[Smokey]

Many threads about this.  Get a stereo microscope.  About 0.7x to 3x zoom and 10x eyepieces.  Nice ring light.  Good tweezers.  Inexpensive used on eBay.

[Wilson__]

Many thanks.  "0.7x to 3x zoom and 10x eyepieces",  does it mean 7x to 30x magnification?

[ajb]

Many thanks.  "0.7x to 3x zoom and 10x eyepieces",  does it mean 7x to 30x magnification?

Yes.  If you get a microscope with a threaded nose, you can add barlow lenses to the front to adjust magnification vs working distance.  A 0.5x barlow will halve your magnification, but 3.5x-15x is still plenty for general purpose SMD work, and you get double the working distance.  You can just take the barlow off to get back to full magnification when you need it. 

[Sensorcat]

My microscope covers a range of magnification from 4x to 50x (with two sets of eyepieces). For electronics, I use 6.3x to 16x the most. Almost never more than 25x needed. I had one of those magnifying glasses shown in the image in another lab, and did not like them, because the large lens, made of plastic, showed a lot of chromatic aberration, which is awful to look at. What I like and use a lot whenever more overview compared to the microscope is necessary, is a set of cheap head-mounted magnifying glasses with only 2x. They come with and without lamp. I think it is better (counterintuitive) to have the light separated.

[Kleinstein]

Just as a word of caution: the magnifications given for magnification glasses in the internet are often wrong (usually too large). Not just at Ebay, or Ali...

A general problem with magnification is that the depth of field gets small, so one does not want overly much magnification. How much is needed also depends on the eyes - in young years one can get away with a lot less. 0201 parts should not have a value pronted on them, so it is just about handling the parts. This may not need that much - one may even get away with one of the stronger ( ~ 3 DP) reading glasses that can get found for cheap. It is at least worth a try, even if only good for 0603 or 0402.