Nice mount! I also made a mount for the digital microscope I use for soldering. It too came with a really lousy stand. I could only fit relatively small PCBs under it, and fiddling with the stand to get everything lined up just right was always a real chore. But I went in a rather different direction with mine. Many moons ago I used to podcast, and although I haven't so much as looked at a professional microphone for years now, I still have my mic stand attached to my desk. It's one of those articulated arm types, like a desk lamp, only it has a threaded rod at the end of it that you screw a mic clamp onto. I have been thinking of removing it, but I got the idea to try repurposing it as a mounting arm for my microscope. Jumped onto TinkerCAD (I'm still very much a FreeCAD neophyte) and modeled something quick and dirty and 3D printed it, and it works beautifully. Now I can fit extremely large PCBs under it (as big as the surface of my desk) and I can freely move it about to focus in on exactly what I am working on. For lighting I got a couple of gooseneck LED lamps that I can turn on and bring to bear as needed. And when I'm not using it, I can just swing it up and out of the way. My next challenge is dealing with the focusing knob. Focusing the microscope is pretty fiddly, because no matter how gentle I am, just the act of touching the focusing knob usually causes me to knock the microscope slightly out of alignment. My current plan is to put together some sort of electronic focusing rig. Pi Pico W (so that I can control the focus remotely, no need to physically touch it) and a stepper motor with a 3D printed gear that turns the focus knob. Sounds good on paper, but you never know until you actually build it, which unfortunately I haven't had a chance to get to yet due to being swamped with other things that needed to be done first.
That sounds like a really capable mount. I can't get nearly that large a board with mine. The Pico focusing could work well. Auto-focus, anyone? Thanks for watching!
Nice mount! I also made a mount for the digital microscope I use for soldering. It too came with a really lousy stand. I could only fit relatively small PCBs under it, and fiddling with the stand to get everything lined up just right was always a real chore. But I went in a rather different direction with mine. Many moons ago I used to podcast, and although I haven't so much as looked at a professional microphone for years now, I still have my mic stand attached to my desk. It's one of those articulated arm types, like a desk lamp, only it has a threaded rod at the end of it that you screw a mic clamp onto. I have been thinking of removing it, but I got the idea to try repurposing it as a mounting arm for my microscope. Jumped onto TinkerCAD (I'm still very much a FreeCAD neophyte) and modeled something quick and dirty and 3D printed it, and it works beautifully. Now I can fit extremely large PCBs under it (as big as the surface of my desk) and I can freely move it about to focus in on exactly what I am working on. For lighting I got a couple of gooseneck LED lamps that I can turn on and bring to bear as needed. And when I'm not using it, I can just swing it up and out of the way.
My next challenge is dealing with the focusing knob. Focusing the microscope is pretty fiddly, because no matter how gentle I am, just the act of touching the focusing knob usually causes me to knock the microscope slightly out of alignment. My current plan is to put together some sort of electronic focusing rig. Pi Pico W (so that I can control the focus remotely, no need to physically touch it) and a stepper motor with a 3D printed gear that turns the focus knob. Sounds good on paper, but you never know until you actually build it, which unfortunately I haven't had a chance to get to yet due to being swamped with other things that needed to be done first.
That sounds like a really capable mount. I can't get nearly that large a board with mine. The Pico focusing could work well. Auto-focus, anyone? Thanks for watching!
Snao , short sighted technicians rule :lol:
I miss being one. Technology to the rescue. 🙂