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When you want a REALLY close-up view . . . by ROSS TESTER In the October issue of SILICON CHIP, our resident serviceman, Dave Thompson, waxed lyrical about the benefits of a USB microscope and its ability to obtain (extremely!) close-up views of a damaged PCB he was trying to repair. Talk about timing! We had recently decided to prepare a feature on “optical” service aids, including the exact device Dave was talking about. In fact, we had already received and photographed one of those USB microscopes, along with several other related items. W e had been planning this feature for some time; that is ever since our esteemed Editor purchased a pair of high-magnification “glasses” on ebay. Perhaps he should have known that the low price (around $6.00, including postage from China) would indicate that it wasn’t going to be the world’s greatest product . . . but we still have a surreptitious snigger when we remember his reaction upon opening them (we wouldn’t dare laugh out loud!). But we’re getting ahead of ourselves: more on that stellar purchase a little later. OK, what were we really looking for? Many readers, particularly those with . . . ahem . . . shall we say many years of experience, have taken us to task over our increasing use of SMD components. “With my eyesight, I can’t even see the little beggars, let alone read the labels” is a typical comment. While most of us in the SILICON CHIP office can commiser80  Silicon Chip ate we’re afraid it’s not going to get any better in the future. Many components are now only made in SMD format and even those that aren’t tend to be significantly more expensive than SMDs. An increasing percentage of future projects will be at least partly based on SMDs. (Sorry!) So it’s basically a case of working around the problem or giving up the hobby. Of course, the latter is unthinkable for most enthusiasts, so there needs to be a solution. And magnification, so you can read the labels on the little beggars, is that solution. If that were the beginning and end of the problem, all you would need is to arm yourself with a cheap magnifying glass you bought from the local bargain store. But it isn’t as simple as that – many people with less than perfect eyesight also need illumination (and often strong illumination) as well as magnification. Moreover, unless you have three or four hands, you can’t hold a magnifying glass and the component and the soldering iron and the solder and the PCB . . . so ideally, handssiliconchip.com.au free would be a blessing. Let’s see what’s commonly available: Pro’sKit handheld LED Light Magnifier – Altronics X0430; $12.95 ea We’re going to start with a simple, hand-held magnifying glass (despite what we just said above, there are times when that is all that you really need). Well, what we found is a bit more upmarket than a simple magnifying glass because this one also has twin LED illumination built in. That makes the handle a bit more bulky (to house the 3 x AAA batteries) but it’s still very easy to hold and together with the relatively high magnification (3.5x) makes this nice to use in simple applications. The white LEDs throw a good light on the work area, too. It doesn’t come with batteries so you’ll need to add these before use. Having said all that, we would have to rate this as being one of the less-useful magnifiers in all those we look at for this feature, with the possible exception of the next ones (which we call Leo’s Follies)! disconcerting III! Fourth, while the lens assemblies can be slid along the frame to account for different eye positions, it’s not easy – they simply grab too tight to the frame so cannot be finely adjusted. Most disconcerting IV! The good points? Yep, they’re pretty cheap. Oh, the LEDs work (although finding CR1620 button cells to power them may not be quite as simple as it should be). Would we recommend them? You be the judge! As night follows day, we’re going to get someone ring and say that they use them all the time and they’re a real beauty. Not us, though! Pro’sKit Headband Magnifier – Altronics T2555, $35.50 “Glasses-Type Watch Repair Magnifier with LED Light” – ebay (from China), approx $6.00 including postage There were some choice undeleted expletives when these were unpacked. Of course, the description on ebay was glowing “20x magnification power . . . loupe location adjustable on frame for your comfort . . . perfect for installing & repairing camera, watch, and other electronics. . . So a pair was duly ordered and arrived some ten days later. That’s when the fun began! First of all, you’d hope that the two eyepieces would give a “binocular” effect; ie, combining into one. No way in the world – it gave two distinct images. Most disconcerting! Second, while one of the magnifiers could be turned up and out of the way, that meant one eye is looking at a much magnified image while the other is not – at best, all we could do was close the non-magnified eye view so it wasn’t so confusing. Most disconcerting II! Third, the focal point of these was virtually right on the front lens – and there doesn’t appear to be any logical or sensible way to adjust the operating distance or focus. Most siliconchip.com.au Now we’re starting to get into the more professional gear. And if Leo swore about the Chinese glasses, he swears that these are the greatest thing since sliced bread (or maybe even before)! What you get is not one or two but three different powers of magnification all fitted to an adjustable, comfortable headband. And when we say comfortable, it’s not hard to forget that you have it on! The lens assembly can be adjusted in the vertical direction as required and similarly, the headband itself can be adjusted to suit your head size. There is one set of lenses permanently mounted. These give a 1.8x magnification. That’s not very much – about what you’d expect from a pair of reading glasses. But mounted on a swing-down axle immediately behind the first lenses is a second pair, which gives a 2.6x magnification. That’s highly useful in its own right for the vast majority of electronics tasks. However, if that’s not enough, there’s a third lens which swings down over the right eye (only) which gives a significant 5.8x magnification. You might think it’s a bit difficult having one eye at one level and the other at another – we found it easiest to simply close one eye if we needed the highest magnification. November 2015  81 What else is the Headband Magnifier good for? After having one of these in the home for just a few weeks, we’ve found a whole host of non-electronics uses for it – from removing splinters to picking up the dropped stitch in knitting. . . and everything in between. Would you believe they’re also sensational for finding and removing ticks from children and animals; even hunting for head lice in the hair that the little darlings have managed to bring home from school! And if you need to work in low light, there’s a pair of white LEDs mounted immediately above the lenses. Unlike most, these can be adjusted in both the vertical and horizontal directions to shine directly on the work. To change the two AAA batteries, the LED light source can be easily removed from the lenses. This also allows it to be used as a mini torch if you wish. In summary, the Headband Magnifier is a bit more expensive than other types – but it’s worth every cent! Inspect-a-gadget desk-mounted magnifiers – Altronics, Cat X4200, $109.00 What a cute pun on an old TV show! (If you don’t know what we’re talking about, ask your kids or grandkids!). We’re now moving up into the real world with these professional-style magnifiers. You may remember similar devices called “Maggy Lamps” but that’s a trade name. These ones (and there are four styles available) from Alt r o n ics are designed to be semi-permanently fixed to the edge of a workbench (up to 60mm thick) and the magnifying head swung into position as desired. What makes these ones different is that they use bright white LEDs for illuminating the work – in the case of the two larger models, 56 longlife LEDs giving 3500-4500K natural white light. The magnifying glass itself is a rather large 130mm in diameter, giving a great view over quite a large area of work. We mentioned earlier that there are four models available. The X4200 has a 3-dioptre lens, while the X4201 has a higher magnification 5-dioptre lens. But there are also two “junior” versions at a significantly lower price – $54.95 – the X4204 has a 95mm diameter, 3-dioptre lens and the X-4205 has a 5-dioptre. The other main difference is that they are mounted on a heavy base with a balljoint on the 300mm stem to adjust the position. At this height, you have more than enough room underneath to be able to solder components, etc. The LEDs in all these magnifiers operated from the 230VAC mains. Which ever you choose, you’re going to get a quality unit more than capable of identifying components, dry joints or broken tracks – or whatever else your application requires. 82  Silicon Chip Powered inspection units All the magnifiers looked at so far are manual devices, that is, you look through a lens to see your work. But there are other, more esoteric devices now available which we alluded to at the start of this feature. These are the powered “cameras” which connect to your computer via the USB port and put their image on the computer screen. While they operate in real time, they also have the ability to save what they “see” to the hard disk, flash drive, etc, for later close examination. Often, the faulty or suspect part reveals itself only on a more leisurely viewing, often with stop action as required. We’re looking at two devices which fit into this genre, although there are many, many more on the market. USB Digital Microscope – Altronics X4300A $55.00 As with the inspect-a-gadgets from Altronics, there is more than one model of these available. The specific one we’re looking at here has a 200x zoom, 2-megapixel model which can take a variety of still images (in JPEG or bitmap) or video movies (in AVI). It has a manual focus range, from a ring on the camera, of 10mm to 500mm and has eight brightnessadjustable LEDs for revealing dark, hidden secrets. The microscope is powered by the USB port it’s plugged into. As with the inspection camera above, a mini CD of software is supplied – for Windows 2000, XP, Vista and Win 7 (though we believe it will also work with 8 and 10) and, in this case, Mac 10.5 or higher. That 10 to 500mm range gives you enormous scope (pardon the pun!) to examine a very wide range of equipment. And while it’s rated at 2MP, the software interpolates that to 5MP so you really get some fine detail. We mentioned other models: Altronics also have a 400x zoom, 1.3mp model for $79.95 (X4301), along with a brand new 200x zoom, 9mp model (X4304) for $145.00. 5MP USB Microscope Camera – Jaycar QC3199 $169.00 In some ways similar to the above model, the Jaycar Microscope Camera offers significantly manual focus from 10mm to 150mm, a shutter speed of 1 second to 1/1000s and still image resolution up to 2592 x 1944 pixels that’s actually over 5MP). It will also shoot video at 1280 x 960 pixels (which is also the lowest still image resolution. Its built-in light source is eight ultrabright white LEDs siliconchip.com.au which, while they certainly light up the subject, we found were a little distracting when trying to view anything with a shiny or reflective surface (eg, a PCB!). There were eight high-brightness spots surrounding our image which no amount of LED level adjustment would eliminate. This microscope/camera is very similar in shape and size to the Altronics model; the biggest difference we could find (apart from the optics) is that the “trigger” button (to take a picture) is rather more conveniently located on the cable, not on the microscope body. It also comes with a rather larger (and heavier) “professional” baseplate, intended to minimise vibration and movement. The baseplate is fitted with two spring object holders as well. The mounting pillar allows the microscope to be turned through 180°, allowing “off baseplate” shots while maintaining the security that the heavy baseplate offers. There’s a course focus adjustment provided on the mounting stand and a fine adjustment on the microscope body. Once again, it’s powered by the USB port into which it is plugged and the specs state it will work with Windows XP/Vista/7 & 8, along with Mac 10-6-10.9. We also proved that it works perfectly with Windows 10. A CD of software is included which came up without drama and allowed the driver to be installed without fuss. It’s more expensive than the Altronics model but with that heavy (they call it “professional”!) base it does feel slightly sturdier. What else is out there? Tonnes! Literally – we’ve only scraped the surface of these devices – and we’ve deliberately kept in the low end of the market because that’s what most hobbyists would Amscope’s 4TX-144A TRInocular. siliconchip.com.au be looking for. But there are many more “professional” models out there as well, many with professional price tags. For example, in the July 2014 issue Andrew Levido reviewed an Amscope 4TX-144A Trinocular microscope – along with the two “binocular” eyepieces, it had a third port for mounting a digital camera (www.amscope.com). But at a (then) price of almost $1000 – and we know what has happened to the dollar since – it is probably out of reach of most hobbyists. However, if your livelihood depends on such a device, it could be great value! But if you REALLY want to get serious . . . While we were preparing this mini-feature, Hawker Richardson sent us details of their Mantis Elite stereo camera. Now let’s get one thing out of the way immediately: this is NOT for hobbyist users. It’s unashamedly intended for all day, every day production and service applications, etc, where it is vital that the camera doesn’t contribute to operator fatigue (and therefore mistakes). It’s very expensive compared to all the other cameras shown here – in fact, just to buy most of the lenses for the Mantis Elite you’d spend significantly more than any of the other cameras (yes, the lenses are “optional” extras! The difference between this camera and virtually ALL others is that, while it offers stereo vision, you don’t have to peer through a pair of eyepieces (which can be very tiring), Instead, there’s an internal video screen which offers a hi-res (HD) image of the work below. A USB-equipped model is available but the base model‑ retails for almost $3500 plus GST, PLUS the universal stand (another $862+) and not forgetting the lens (ranging from $205 [for 2x magnification] through to a pretty significant $1150+ for the x15 lens – though strangely, the x20 is about half this price!). So with a midrange lens, you’ll be up for more than $5000 for the Mantis Elite. If your livelihood depends on it, though . . . If you want to know more, our old friend David Jones has an in-depth review on his EEV Blog website (access via the Hawker Richardson website). David was in raptures, by the way! And as he says, you’re going to need to try one of these out for yourself before plonking down that amount of cash. Fortunately, Hawker Richardson will come to you for a demonstration. Contact Hawker Richardson on 1300 36 00 31, or via their website www.hawkerrichardson.com.au/shop/optical-inspection-products/product/34-mantis-elite-cam-hd SC November 2015  83