Veho 400x

[Edwin Lurvey]

On your Veho Microscopes, where are your hardstops? Mine are at 360 when rotating the knob cw looking into the light and 60 when turning ccw when looking into the light. seems funky to me. Also when i measure distance, its not even close. .010″ when it should be .125″

[Scott Babineaux]

I never paid attention to that; I don’t think the QC is that good. In order to get highest res I basically set the plastic collar touching the blade edge; set the light to it’s lowest and try to focus it. It’s iffy at best.

[wickededge]

I use modeling clay to position the blade at the angle I want and then look straight down onto it at whatever angle I’m wanting to see.

-Clay

[Ziggy]

Just throwing this out there.

Haven’t started photographing my knives yet, but from past photo work I used to do, this stuff was must have all over the studio:

http://www.amazon.com/Loctite-1087306-2-Ounce-Fun-Tak-Mounting/dp/B001F57ZPW

Shelf life may be forever. I have 10 year old fun tac laying around pliable and tacky.

[Joyal Taylor]

Today I got the Veho 400x Microscope and tried to photograph a knife edge at 400x after using each stone in the progression while sharpening the way Tom does it. I left the blade in the vise because I thought it would be easier and faster. However, I had a difficult time trying to hold the microscope steady and focus to take the photos. Has anyone figured out how to stabilize it or is it better to just remove the blade each time and stick it on some modeling clay to take each photo?

Also, do you use a dark background of some kind for better contrast?

[Jende Industries]

I place the base of the Veho scope on the WEPS clamp and put the scope right on the bevel. That gives you a stable platform and a consistent area for the shot.

Getting the ligting can be a little tricky – I like when the light is directly on top causing the image to self correct, giving it that black and white look. This only happens on mirror finishes, though. Everything else is a bunch of reds and blues. Play with the different angles, and give the camera/computer screen image a couple of seconds to adjust.

[Joyal Taylor]

Thanks Tom for your suggestion “I place the base of the Veho scope on the WEPS clamp and put the scope right on the bevel.” That solved the problem for me.

I hold the base against the clamp with my right hand while using my left hand to GROSSLY focus and position the edge of the blade on the screen. Then I move my left hand to the mouse to be ready to click on the pull-down menu to take a photo. I discovered that I can do some fine focusing by lightly squeezing or releasing pressure on the scope base with my right hand. And when I’m satisfied, I click the photo. I don’t know if I explained this very well, but it’s working for me.

Now I’ve got to get a better light source set up from above – maybe a small goose-neck-type desk light.

Joyal

[Joyal Taylor]

I made some photos with the Veho 400 and saved them to my photo album but I can’t figure out how to post them on this forum. I click on the “Add File” of the “Attachments” and go find my photos but can’t seem to make them show up in the blank next to “Add File”. Can someone help me?

[Devron Limerick]

Host them on photobucket and post them with the tag [I.M.G] (with those dots removed) then the website address of your photo then [/I.M.G] (again remove the dots) and it should show up. Photobucket has a one click solution where you just left click the images address for forums then right click in your post and hit paste and it does it all for you.

[Dennis Hibar]

Speaking of USB microscopes. I have been thinking about this since I got the WE and saw some of the images posted here. The complication is that I have been using Macintosh computers (exclusively) for the past 26 years. The reviews are SO mixed on which brand(s) of USB microscopes will work/work well with the Mac … and specifically Mac operating systems newer than 10.4. The ones I have found that do work well are more professional grade pieces of equipment, and I can’t justify multiple hundreds of dollars for something which would get limited use. So, anyone here uses a Mac AND uses a USB microscope which works well, please let me know the brand/model. It would make things so much easier than trying to squint through my 40X loupe with my aging eyes!

[Joyal Taylor]

I recently got the Veho 400X and have been playing around with it. If I change the lighting intensity or angle just a little, I will get strikingly different photos with different details. Check out these photos of the same edge of a cheap kitchen knife, that I just partially sharpened for practice. The photos are not of the exact same (1 mm) spot on the blade because the slightest movement will move the camera and I usually can’t get back to the same spot. These photos were taken at 400x.

[Jende Industries]

Joyal – Nice photos!

I personally go for the lighting in that last picture. It gives you the most honest reflection of the surface without all the blue and red noise as the first picture has. Looks like you still have some work to do 😆

I’ve found that getting that light is very difficult on grits coarser than 3.5-4 microns or 4K-5K. As you see your edges more under the scope, you will begin to see a consistency that lets you know if you’re ready to move on.

Since a few of us have the Veho 400, we all have the same frame of reference, which will help everyone. B)

I also host my images at photobucket. It’s easier to post a link this way.

Dennis – I think the Veho works with a Mac. I looked at the specs on the Veho website and got this:

VMS-004 USB Microscope is supplied with Windows and Mac drivers. For software for side-loading CD drives just visit the download centre

It also said

20x or 400x magnification

so there is no continuous zoom claim.

Here is a link http://www.veho-uk.com/main/shop_detail.aspx?article=40&mode=overview

[Dennis Hibar]

Dennis – I think the Veho works with a Mac. I looked at the specs on the Veho website and got this:
VMS-004 USB Microscope is supplied with Windows and Mac drivers. For software for side-loading CD drives just visit the download centre

Well, yes and no. Most all of the USB microscope brands will “work” with the Mac …. to varing degrees. Unfortunately, it’s the software that is supplied which is the fly in the ointment. In many cases, control of the microscope via the supplied software is either limited or just doesn’t work … instead, the microscope must either be controlled as if it were a web cam via Mac’s own imaging software or by using the on-microscope controls. This seems to be especially true if you are using one of the newer Mac operating systems 10.6 and newer. As a Mac user, I long ago learned that you have to take what companies say (with respect to Mac compatibility) with a grain of salt. That’s why I am hoping to find someone actually using a low cost USB Microscope on a Mac with great results. Only one I have found, so far, is the Carson Zorb …. but it is only a 35x device.

[Phil Pasteur]

I place the base of the Veho scope on the WEPS clamp and put the scope right on the bevel. That gives you a stable platform and a consistent area for the shot.

Getting the ligting can be a little tricky – I like when the light is directly on top causing the image to self correct, giving it that black and white look. This only happens on mirror finishes, though. Everything else is a bunch of reds and blues. Play with the different angles, and give the camera/computer screen image a couple of seconds to adjust.

I guess that I am not getting this. There is no place on the clamp that is flat eneough to stabilize that base of the VEHO. I have been messing with it handheld, but getting the consistency that Tom does had eluded me to this point. I am thinking that perhaps putting some velcro on the base of the clamp and bottom of the VEHO base might allow it to be stabile enough to get the angle and lighting to where I need it.. and so it will stay long enough to actually snap the shot.

The other issue I have is that it is very difficult to get the camera set so that I don’t get lense flare which washes out the image badly.

Are people using external lighting to supliment the leds on the VEHO.

Clay, it looks like you have some kind of a stand for the VEHO in a couple of the videos that you have done… or is tha my imagination. If you do, what do you use?

Phil

BTW this is the video I was referring to:

http://www.wickededgeusa.com/index.php?option=com_hwdvideoshare&task=viewvideo&Itemid=77&video_id=1

Right in the beginning.

[Joyal Taylor]

Phil,

With the scope still attached to the base, turn the whole thing 90 degrees and place the bottom of the scope base “vertically more or less” against the angled part (black part) of the vise clamp on one side and hold it there with one hand. I use my right hand with the palm on the right side of the vise clamp, and my fingers are wrapped around it and onto the base of the scope. Then I can use my left hand to line up and focus the scope against the knife – that is in the vise.

I may try to velco the scope base and vise like that and see how it works. It may allow both hands free to do the focusing, etc. I’ll report back if it works.

I, too, haven’t figured out the best lighting yet. Still experimenting.

In that video you linked to, it’s Clay Allison not Matt, but I think you knew that.

Joyal

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