Soldering Microcope - Barlow lens and lens protection advice

[DTJ]

Due to old eyes I've just ordered one of these (despite the horrendous USA --> Australia shipping cost).

http://www.amscope.com/7x-45x-stereo-binocular-microscope-with-14-pillar-stand.html


The main use will be for general SMD soldering and inspecting 0.5mm pitch PLCCs etc. The working distance is 100mm and to increase this I'd like to add a Barlow lens but have some questions about how it all works. I'll probably have to extend the post height.


1) The microscope seems to have a 48mm lens thread - does this mean any 48mm equipped lens will fit?

2) How will the Barlow lens affect the field of view? Some Barlow lens adverts mention that they are wide view and others don't.

3) What lens should I buy? The scope is 7.5X - 45X
    0.5X Barlow - would result in 3.75X - 22.5X magnification with a working distance of 1/0.5 x 100mm = ~200mm
    0.7X Barlow - would result in 5.25X - 31.5X magnification with a working distance of 1/0.7 x 100mm = ~143mm

4) What does the Barlow do to your field/width of view?

5) Do the Barlow lenses have a thread on the front so I could fit a filter to protect the lens? Is a UV filter what I need? I've seen them for $10 on eBay.



Cheers.

[KL27x]

A 0.5x Barlow doubles the field of view. The 0.5x is going to be the most common one used for electronics work with the microscope you bought. No, you won't need to increase the height of your stand. It will handle it.

I have no clue if you can use other brands of lens on your microscope.

If the microscope is too high with the Barlow, you can get a drafting stool/chair, or you can buy the gas ram from a drafting chair and put it in a regular office chair. This is something you might want to check out before deciding on the 0.7 vs 0.5. For sure, the 0.5 will be more useful for most soldering/inspection for the increased maximum FOV, alone. The max zoom is still more than enough for almost anything you would need. The 0.7 will be more of a compromise for the height of the scope/eyepieces.

Also, you will need some lighting. The light ring attachment is practically necessary.

[Pinkus]

I had the same problem. The microscope will be your solution 
You will never ever try to work on PCBs without it.

The working distance of 100mm is usually not enough, so a x0.5 lens is a good solution. However I found out that the eye-pieces are still to low for me. I had to bend my neck too much, so that it hurts after a while. I then ordered a x0.4 lens, which was much better, but not perfect. I then found a used x0.3 which I am using now.
For occasional use, the x0.5 is fine, for regular use you better look for a x0.4 or even better x0.3.

Regarding the light. For me, the regular ring-lights are not the best, because you have only a 0° downlight.
The disadvantage:

• no shadow - difficult to check on wrong solderings etc.
• reflection: due to the reflection, markings on ICs are difficult to impossible to read.

I sold mine and mounted a regular LED reflector on a gooseneck which allows me to get an adjustable lighting from a 45° angle which is much much better for soldering.

Regarding protection: I had a protection glas on my lens and after two years of heavy usage I thought it might need a cleaning due to the soldering fume: no stain at all (which was a suprise for me). So I assume, this is not really needed (usually you will never touch the lens with the soldering iron or anything else).

[DTJ]

A 0.5x Barlow doubles the field of view. The 0.5x is going to be the most common one used for electronics work with the microscope you bought. No, you won't need to increase the height of your stand. It will handle it.

I have no clue if you can use other brands of lens on your microscope.

If the microscope is too high with the Barlow, you can get a drafting stool/chair, or you can buy the gas ram from a drafting chair and put it in a regular office chair. This is something you might want to check out before deciding on the 0.7 vs 0.5. For sure, the 0.5 will be more useful for most soldering/inspection for the increased maximum FOV, alone. The max zoom is still more than enough for almost anything you would need. The 0.7 will be more of a compromise for the height of the scope/eyepieces.

Also, you will need some lighting. The light ring attachment is practically necessary.

I use a taller tech stool at the bench so hopefully height will work out ok. I'm pleased to hear the FOV increases with the use of a Barlow lens.

What range of overall magnification (factoring in the barlow lens) do you use?

I had the same problem. The microscope will be your solution 
You will never ever try to work on PCBs without it.

The working distance of 100mm is usually not enough, so a x0.5 lens is a good solution. However I found out that the eye-pieces are still to low for me. I had to bend my neck too much, so that it hurts after a while. I then ordered a x0.4 lens, which was much better, but not perfect. I then found a used x0.3 which I am using now.
For occasional use, the x0.5 is fine, for regular use you better look for a x0.4 or even better x0.3.

Regarding the light. For me, the regular ring-lights are not the best, because you have only a 0° downlight.
The disadvantage:

• no shadow - difficult to check on wrong solderings etc.
• reflection: due to the reflection, markings on ICs are difficult to impossible to read.

I sold mine and mounted a regular LED reflector on a gooseneck which allows me to get an adjustable lighting from a 45° angle which is much much better for soldering.

Regarding protection: I had a protection glas on my lens and after two years of heavy usage I thought it might need a cleaning due to the soldering fume: no stain at all (which was a suprise for me). So I assume, this is not really needed (usually you will never touch the lens with the soldering iron or anything else).

Thanks for that info. I was going to build or buy a ring light lucky I have not started on that yet. I do have a couple of cheap Ikea flexible gooseneck LED lamps that I use for other jobs, maybe they will be good to use. I can set them back from the work and have one on either side to try to reduce shadowing.


Thanks for the guidance guys.

[Pjotr]

Some additional hints: For soldering use I use a magnification between 10x and 20x and for inspection up to 40x.

Lightning shiny solder joints can be difficult as do the engraving on the parts. A combination of a ring light and a led torch/lamp works well then, although the larger FL ringlights often are in the way with soldering.

With soldering, the flux fumes/smoke polutes the lens after a while. It is hard to clean then. Use some form of fume extraction or a simple blower. And anyway a protection glass.

[DTJ]

Some additional hints: For soldering use I use a magnification between 10x and 20x and for inspection up to 40x.

Lightning shiny solder joints can be difficult as do the engraving on the parts. A combination of a ring light and a led torch/lamp works well then, although the larger FL ringlights often are in the way with soldering.

With soldering, the flux fumes/smoke polutes the lens after a while. It is hard to clean then. Use some form of fume extraction or a simple blower. And anyway a protection glass.

I do have extraction but sometimes I just set up a 120mm pancake fan behind the work and have it suck the fumes away.

When the microscope arrives I'll check out the lens side of things and order a Barlow and a UV filter to protect things.

[mcinque]

A 0.5x Barlow doubles the field of view. The 0.5x is going to be the most common one used for electronics work with the microscope you bought. No, you won't need to increase the height of your stand.

On my Eschenbach 10/20x, the 0.5x does the exact opposite. Less FOV, and  much longer working distance with it (more than double).

[sosuke]

Wondering if anyone has any suggestions for protection filters? I'm not seeing much from AmScope other than a couple rather pricey uv filters that aren't what a guy would need.

[Fred27]

I used a standard photographic UV filter on mine. I believe used a 48 to 52mm adapter as 52mm filters were much easier and cheaper to get than 48mm ones.

[KL27x]

I use the minimum zoom (3.5x with my .5 barlow) quite a lot for soldering most passives and larger IC's like SOIC, which are fairly gigantic under a microscope. For SSOP pitch, I am finding something like 10X works fine to me. I rarely go much past half zoom. If you do, you will only see part of your IC, and you will have to move the board around steadily to see all the pins.

I don't have anything to add regarding filters. I consider my 0.5 Barlow to be the protection. I don't think any flux can shoot that high, and it doesn't seem to be betting any worse for wear.

I know you already ordered your microscope, but FYI one of the greatest things I didn't know about when I bought my double boom stand is the tilt adjustable head. In additional to my adjustable drafting chair, changing the tilt can greatly affect the viewing height without greatly changing the viewing angle. (This is not necessarily a concern if you are always working on flat, single-sided boards.) And in fact, changing the viewing angle is often desirable as well. I am quite often working on populated boards and devices in housings, and I find myself adjusting the viewing angle quite often.

[alank2]

I attached a clear piece of glass (4" x 4") to the bottom of the LED ring with a couple of rubber bands.  It was easy to to and protects well.

[ChunkyPastaSauce]

I don't have a protection lens on one of my scopes, I just stretch a single layer of saran wrap over it. Works fine.

[DTJ]

FYI one of the greatest things I didn't know about when I bought my double boom stand is the tilt adjustable head.

I'm going to see how it goes but  I may end up making my own mount for the head. I can see the tilt option would be very useful. I would have gone for a boom mount but that added another $150 (mainly in shipping).


There's quite a few 48mm UV filters on eBay starting from around AU$20. The cling wrap idea might be worth trying, I need to get a barlow lens first.

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=48mm+uv+filter&_sop=15

[ian.rees]

I recently bought what I think is the same microscope head, but with a different stand, from aliexpress.  Couldn't be happier with it, and would definitely recommend the 0.5x Barlow for typical electronics work.  It's easy to remove if you need extra magnification.

No affiliation (besides being a satisfied customer), but I think this is the same as the amscope lens you're looking at: http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Free-Shipping-Free-Shipping-SZM-0-5X-AUXILIARY-OBJECTIVE-LENS-FOR-STEREO-ZOOM-MICROSCOPE-WD-165mm/2100001_32630790654.html .

Lighting is also necessary as has been mentioned.  Mine came with the 144 LED light, which was pretty lousy build quality (hard to complain at that price!) but works OK now that I've replaced the barrel connector.  -Ian-

[DTJ]

No affiliation (besides being a satisfied customer), but I think this is the same as the amscope lens you're looking at: http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/Free-Shipping-Free-Shipping-SZM-0-5X-AUXILIARY-OBJECTIVE-LENS-FOR-STEREO-ZOOM-MICROSCOPE-WD-165mm/2100001_32630790654.html .

Hi Ian - did you actually buy the Barlow lens at that link? I've never purchased via Aliexpress - are there any issues or gotchas to be aware of? The price certainly looks good.

Thanks

[ian.rees]

did you actually buy the Barlow lens at that link?

Yes, although the seller was operating under a different name ("fyscope" IIRC, though they also sold socks?!) at the time.  I'm quite impressed by the quality of mine, though would expect that if you buy a few of them, they will probably vary somewhat.  The fyscope microscopes and accessories look absolutely identical to the amscope offerings.  Not sure if they are reworked seconds or what, but I can say that my scope works great (except that the LED light build quality) including the 0.5x Barlow.

I've never purchased via Aliexpress - are there any issues or gotchas to be aware of? The price certainly looks good.

Mainly that it's addictive.  For me in NZ, it's more-or-less the only sane way to get a lot of my tools and parts.  There are definitely knock off items on there, with varying quality, so if it's advertised as being a well-known brand with a super low cost, then don't expect it to actually be the real item (eg Bonpens).

The "free shipping" option is quite variable in time - it generally takes things between 2 and 4 weeks to arrive here from China.  The DHL/UPS/FedEx options are very fast.  The missing cost in shipping from China is getting covered by the domestic shipping carrier, so I imagine that situation will change.

I've only had one situation where I wanted to return something; bought a commercial-type blender which arrived with an open circuit in one of the rotor coils.  The seller was quite responsive and open to options.  I initially thought that it had a bad brush (one had disintegrated, in hindsight probably due to overheating), and they sent me a new set of brushes at no charge.  We settled on them sending me a new "motor", which turned out to be an entire new base, for the cost of shipping.

Hope this helps!  -Ian-

[DTJ]

Thanks Ian, that sounds promising and give me confidence in using them. Cheers.

[Pack34]

Consider one of the USB camera attachments. They drop in the eyepiece and you can watch what you're doing on your computer screen.