I need a Veho usb microscope stand
- This topic has 18 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 04/01/2012 at 7:47 am by
.
-
Hi Babo,
I got a Veho VMS-004 in today. I was impressed with the pictures Tom presented on his blog and he recommended it to me.
Initially I had great trouble with it. Partly that was because the manual sucks. And partly it was because the microscope suggests more than it can do: the microscope features a scale, with markings from 20 to 400 on it, that is quite misleading. It suggests that you can optically zoom continuously from 20x to 400x. But that is not the case. Instead, there are two fixed magnification levels, one about 20x and one about 400x.
There is a good review at Amazon, http://www.amazon.com/review/R1IGLAHE0T8Y8L/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R1IGLAHE0T8Y8L . This points out these issues and also tells you that basically you get the best pictures by simply placing the clear plastic end of the microscope directly on the knife (as Tom also pointed out). Then it is a matter of fiddling with the zoom wheel to get the exact focus. This took me a couple of hours to find out.
But since the best way of taking photographs is to place the microscope directly on the knife, I really wonder whether you need a vertical stand. (By the way, my microscope came with a stand, but it is not adjustible.)
Anyway, without a stand I was able to take pictures of the edge of a knife at 20x magnification:
And at 400x magnification:
The Veho microscope certainly isn’t something you would use in a professional environment. However, after having dealt with its oddities, I find it quite useful and definitely worth the money (EUR 40, which is about $50).
It was my intention to also use it for viewing multi-bevel edges (which can be the basis for convex edges). I will still do that and post pictures here, but unfortunately I suddenly developed a weird shoulder injury (called a bursitis) that will prevent me from using the WE for a couple of weeks 👿 .
Success with your microscope and looking forward to see some pictures!
Mark.
Molecule Polishing: my blog about sharpening with the Wicked Edge
I recently got this Dino-Lite Stand, Model # MS34B-R2.
It’s made for the Dino brand of microscopes but the Veho 400X fits well enough. A little tight but it works just fine. The wheel knobs act like a fine adjustment that solves the problem of movement while focusing at the 400X magnification. It’s not adjustable enough that you can use it to photograph your knife edge while it’s still in the WEPS vise, which would be great if anyone knows of such a stand. You have to take the knife out of the vise and put it on the base of the stand under the scope, the way you may have seen Clay doing on one of his videos with his microscope stand. This stand costs about the same as the Veho 440X, $69.00 on Amazon.com.
I like it for now, until something even better is found.
PhillipPasteur
That model #87IN4212 doesn’t have a fine adjustment. Without that, I don’t think it would be much better than holding the scope by hand. The fine adjustment is the most important part IMO. Also, it doesn’t appear to be able to hold the camera steady enough to focus at 400X. As you already know, just “breathing” on the scope changes the focus and that gooseneck design doesn’t seem very steady.
I looked further into these stands on Dino’s website and found an almost perfect one for our needs. It is the BigC Dino-Lite #MS36BE Table Top Boom Stand.
It has a long arm that allows up to 10″ of horizontal adjustment, as well as the vertical adjustment up to 8″ (with a fine adjustment). It allows full rotational adjustment of the scope 360 degrees in vertical and horizontal axis. The only possible problem I see is that the fine adjustment is apparently only in the vertical axis, like the less expensive model #MS34B-R2 that I showed in my post. We might also need a horizontal fine adjustment to focus on the blade edge while the knife is in the WEPS vise. I don’t understand why they didn’t design this stand with a horizontal fine adjustment, too. Maybe the vertical fine adjustment will work OK for our situation if the scope is at a 45 degree angle to the blade edge while the knife is in the vise, I just don’t know. It sells on Amazon.com for $199.00.
Let’s keep looking. The perfect stand may be out there somewhere.
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.