Hi All,

A mate was trying to change his CPU fan and in the process dropped the
mobo onto the case a chivvied up a couple of the very fine tracks on
the bottom of the board and from then on it didn't work (yes really!).
;-)

He asked if I could do something with it before he ordered a new one
and I managed with the aid of my strongest glasses and a thick
magnifying lens taped to one of those little clip on low voltage
bendy shaft lamps (just to make a stand) see clearly enough to effect
a repair luckily. (I could then see the job ok, but my finest point
tipped soldering iron looked like a length of scaffold pole and finest
solder like a fire hose!). ;-(

Anyroad up, that got me thinking about getting one of those round
fluorescent magnifying lamp things and my first few Google hits
suggested they were ~ 100 quid!

Maplins have one at £29 odd and I wondered if anyone here had one (if
so what are they like please) or could offer an alternative from a
regular (Nt London) store etc?

http://tinyurl.com/nbjwo

According to the Maplin site it is:

High quality 125mm (5 inch) 3 dioptre glass lens (1.75 x Mag) .

The question is: would 1.75 x be enough' for that sort of work (being
the worst case etc) do you think please?

If not, can you get 'stronger' ones please (without spending a fortune
that is)? ;-)