Anyone using these or anything similar for fine work? Any advice or comments
welcomed. Much more expensive than the "visor" type, of course.

http://www.theloupestore.co.uk/produ...-clip-ons.html

tia

On 26 Apr, 20:56, "newshound" wrote:
Anyone using these or anything similar for fine work? Any advice or comments
welcomed. Much more expensive than the "visor" type, of course.

http://www.theloupestore.co.uk/produ...8_dental-loupe...

tia

Bloody hell for that price you could get a guide dog and a white
stick..........

John s.

newshound wrote:
Anyone using these or anything similar for fine work? Any advice or
comments welcomed. Much more expensive than the "visor" type, of course.

http://www.theloupestore.co.uk/produ...-clip-ons.html


tia

"Much more expensive"? Crikey! Always wanted a pair of those, but..!

I have a single clip-on lens, cost £3.99 at Harrogate iirc, and works
well enough for me. YMMV.

-- Peter F

On Apr 26, 10:10*pm, Peter Fairbrother wrote:
newshound wrote:
Anyone using these or anything similar for fine work? Any advice or
comments welcomed. Much more expensive than the "visor" type, of course..

http://www.theloupestore.co.uk/produ...8_dental-loupe...

tia

"Much more expensive"? Crikey! Always wanted a pair of those, but..!

I have a single clip-on lens, cost £3.99 at Harrogate iirc, and works
well enough for me. YMMV.

-- Peter F




Have a look at the Daylight Company magnifiers which are clip ons that
flip up, supplied with a choice of lenses. And a hell of a lot
cheaper!

http://uk.daylightcompany.com/home/product/?id=40


John H

"newshound" wrote in message
...
Anyone using these or anything similar for fine work? Any advice or
comments welcomed. Much more expensive than the "visor" type, of course.

http://www.theloupestore.co.uk/produ...-clip-ons.html

tia


Ouch! That's about 250 Canadian dollars!!!



Steve R.

On 26 Apr, 22:16, John wrote:
On Apr 26, 10:10*pm, Peter Fairbrother wrote:

newshound wrote:
Anyone using these or anything similar for fine work? Any advice or
comments welcomed. Much more expensive than the "visor" type, of course.

http://www.theloupestore.co.uk/produ...8_dental-loupe....

tia

"Much more expensive"? Crikey! Always wanted a pair of those, but..!

I have a single clip-on lens, cost £3.99 at Harrogate iirc, and works
well enough for me. YMMV.

-- Peter F

Have a look at the Daylight Company magnifiers which are clip ons that
flip up, supplied with a choice of lenses. And a hell of a lot
cheaper!

http://uk.daylightcompany.com/home/product/?id=40

John H

I suppose if you are doing close up work for an extensive period,
something like this is worth it, but I found a wee while ago that all
I had to do was to put one pair of glasses on top of another. I just
buy 'readers' from Costco and have accumulated different strengths -
if I put a pair of 3's over 2's I can work at 8" quite happily. And
it doesn't cost me any more than the £10 for 3 pairs from Costco.

Rob

On Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:56:51 +0100, "newshound"
wrote:


Anyone using these or anything similar for fine work? Any advice or comments
welcomed. Much more expensive than the "visor" type, of course.

Not those specific ones but similar. I found with most spectacles
they were too heavy especially when you were looking down and were
constantly slipping forward.

A better and cheaper solution is to go to http://www.optical4less.com/
put in your normal prescription but add 3 diopters. You then have a
set of prescription magnifying glasses.

In article
, Rob
G writes
On 26 Apr, 22:16, John wrote:
On Apr 26, 10:10*pm, Peter Fairbrother wrote:

newshound wrote:
Anyone using these or anything similar for fine work? Any advice or
comments welcomed. Much more expensive than the "visor" type, of course.

http://www.theloupestore.co.uk/produ...8_dental-loupe...

tia

"Much more expensive"? Crikey! Always wanted a pair of those, but..!

I have a single clip-on lens, cost £3.99 at Harrogate iirc, and works
well enough for me. YMMV.

-- Peter F

Have a look at the Daylight Company magnifiers which are clip ons that
flip up, supplied with a choice of lenses. And a hell of a lot
cheaper!

http://uk.daylightcompany.com/home/product/?id=40

John H

I suppose if you are doing close up work for an extensive period,
something like this is worth it, but I found a wee while ago that all
I had to do was to put one pair of glasses on top of another. I just
buy 'readers' from Costco and have accumulated different strengths -
if I put a pair of 3's over 2's I can work at 8" quite happily. And
it doesn't cost me any more than the £10 for 3 pairs from Costco.

I have often done the same. On the (fortunately rare) occasions when
sore eyes make me remove my contact lenses and wear specs for distance
viewing, a pair of reading glasses over the top makes a quite
serviceable bifocal set-up. Cheap as chips, also has the advantage you
can vary the strength of the reading glasses to suit needs, as Rob
suggests.

David
--
David Littlewood

On 26 Apr, 20:56, "newshound" wrote:
Anyone using these or anything similar for fine work? Any advice or comments
welcomed. Much more expensive than the "visor" type, of course.

http://www.theloupestore.co.uk/produ...8_dental-loupe...

£150? Cheap! I almost ordered those (I've been looking for a set of
dental loupes cheaper than Heines for ages - GF is a hygienist), but
with a working distance of only 13" these aren't really suitable for
dental use. Short focal distances encourage backache.

http://www.quicktest.co.uk/acatalog/...on_s_type.html
are always worth a look too.


Overall, the visor sort (single lens element, a few inches from your
eyes) are about the best compromise. You'll usually have a wider view
angle and far less off-axis distortion.

http://www.quicktest.co.uk/acatalog/...agnifiers.html

Their Zeiss ones for £60 quid are really nice (jewellery making)

Personally I'd rather get a good illuminated magnifier, and a small
add-on workbench that's high above my normal workbench.

In article 0b1c1e16-d4e3-49ba-bcb6-
, "John" wrote:

Have a look at the Daylight Company magnifiers which are clip ons that
flip up, supplied with a choice of lenses. And a hell of a lot
cheaper!

http://uk.daylightcompany.com/home/product/?id=40


I found a similar solution was to heavy for my glasses. The solution
I've found is a "head loupe" (google) that will take paired lenses of 3
magnifications, giving a good 3-D view. I can use them with my reading
glasses on underneath and so look down below their lenses to read the
instructions :-)

It's hard reading something a character at a time...

--
John W
To mail me replace the obvious with co.uk twice

In article , "Peter Parry"
wrote:


A better and cheaper solution is to go to http://www.optical4less.com/
put in your normal prescription but add 3 diopters. You then have a
set of prescription magnifying glasses.

Peter, why go to a USA store that doesn't publish its trading address?
There are equivalent places over here, e.g. www.glassesdirect.co.uk that
manufacture and deliver in the UK.

I still prefer my head loupe solution.
--
John W
To mail me replace the obvious with co.uk twice

"John" wrote in message
...
On Apr 26, 10:10 pm, Peter Fairbrother wrote:
newshound wrote:
Anyone using these or anything similar for fine work? Any advice or
comments welcomed. Much more expensive than the "visor" type, of
course.

http://www.theloupestore.co.uk/produ...8_dental-loupe...

tia

"Much more expensive"? Crikey! Always wanted a pair of those, but..!

I have a single clip-on lens, cost £3.99 at Harrogate iirc, and works
well enough for me. YMMV.

-- Peter F




Have a look at the Daylight Company magnifiers which are clip ons that
flip up, supplied with a choice of lenses. And a hell of a lot
cheaper!

http://uk.daylightcompany.com/home/product/?id=40


John H

Good link, thanks. I thought there must be more suppliers out there

"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
...
On 26 Apr, 20:56, "newshound" wrote:
Anyone using these or anything similar for fine work? Any advice or
comments
welcomed. Much more expensive than the "visor" type, of course.

http://www.theloupestore.co.uk/produ...8_dental-loupe...

£150? Cheap! I almost ordered those (I've been looking for a set of
dental loupes cheaper than Heines for ages - GF is a hygienist), but
with a working distance of only 13" these aren't really suitable for
dental use. Short focal distances encourage backache.

http://www.quicktest.co.uk/acatalog/...on_s_type.html
are always worth a look too.


Overall, the visor sort (single lens element, a few inches from your
eyes) are about the best compromise. You'll usually have a wider view
angle and far less off-axis distortion.

http://www.quicktest.co.uk/acatalog/...agnifiers.html

Their Zeiss ones for £60 quid are really nice (jewellery making)

Personally I'd rather get a good illuminated magnifier, and a small
add-on workbench that's high above my normal workbench.

Another good link, thanks. Now I have too much choice! I do have a couple of
the "Peer" visors, but sometimes I am looking into big gearboxes in situ, so
the surgeon's "telescope" types with their larger working distance come into
their own. Apart from looking cool when I'm trying to justify our
consultancy rates. Changing the subject slightly, I just bought a USB
microscope from this guy

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/merchant/merseaelectronics

and it really isn't bad for £40. Easier to cart this plus a small laptop
around plant than a binocular microscope plus lights plus camera!

Have a look at the Daylight Company magnifiers which are clip ons that
flip up, supplied with a choice of lenses. And a hell of a lot
cheaper!

http://uk.daylightcompany.com/home/product/?id=40

I have some of those, they work well even on my varifocals.
I tend to use a big table mounted magnifier with a circular lamp around it
more though.

newshound wrote:


"Andy Dingley" wrote in message
...

http://www.quicktest.co.uk/acatalog/...agnifiers.html

Their Zeiss ones for £60 quid are really nice (jewellery making)

Personally I'd rather get a good illuminated magnifier, and a small
add-on workbench that's high above my normal workbench.

Another good link, thanks. Now I have too much choice! I do have a
couple of the "Peer" visors, but sometimes I am looking into big
gearboxes in situ, so the surgeon's "telescope" types with their larger
working distance come into their own. Apart from looking cool when I'm
trying to justify our consultancy rates. Changing the subject slightly,
I just bought a USB microscope from this guy

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/merchant/merseaelectronics

and it really isn't bad for £40. Easier to cart this plus a small
laptop around plant than a binocular microscope plus lights plus camera!



Thanks, that's a very interesting device. Even though I don't have a use
for one, I can definitely feel the pull!

But perhaps we pay too much attention to the specifications of the
optics and not enough to practical convenience. Although my electronics
workbench has a stereo zoom microscope on a swinging arm, for most
close-up work still I find myself using a cheap pair of +4 reading
glasses in front of the bottom (magnifying) part of my varifocals -
simply because they are so convenient.

They don't block my view of the work, they let me move my head around to
change viewpoints, and instantly let me re-focus onto the wider world -
and all of that is completely hands-free. Only the Zeiss magnifiers
that Andy mentioned share all those advantages, but the non-prescription
reading glasses are far cheaper of course. Rimless letterbox shaped
lenses are in fashion at the moment, so now is a good time to buy - or
at the very least, to try them in the drugstore.

Another option for a true head-up display might be an old video camera
mounted above the bench. Some of the bigger, older ones have excellent
zoom lenses. In a quick trial, ours gave a very good magnified view of a
PC board from about a metre distance - it was wonderful to have a
completely open work area above the board and need no special glasses at
all. However, a true HUD would need a dedicated flat-screen monitor on
the wall, right in front of where I sit to solder, and I don't do enough
SMD work to justify that expense... or not yet.


BTW, along with the need for magnification is the need for a good work
light. This 3W white LED from IKEA is excellent:
http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/50128708

The icy blue-white light would be awful for reading, but gives superb
definition for close-up work. The LED housing is very compact and
doesn't get in the way - it can be clipped onto an over-bench shelf or
even onto the arm of the microscope, and then is easily positioned with
the swan neck. Highly recommended.


--
Ian White

On 28 Apr, 10:46, Ian White wrote:

Another option for a true head-up display might be an old video camera
mounted above the bench.

I have an old Intel QX3 USB microscope (three objectives on a barrel)
that's good for this. x200 is hard to use as there's no depth of
focus, but x30 has really good depth and is great for inspection work.
It's better than any video camera I've had, and it's easy enough to
dedicate an old PC these days.

BTW, along with the need for magnification is the need for a good work light.

I bought a couple of "Tritronic" LED pocket / book lights for a couple
of quid each from Cheapo DIY (part of Homebase?). 3 AAA battery box
and a nice triple LED head on a flex gooseneck. Two are now fitted
under my stereo bench microscope (x36). Battery life is so long I
haven't even bothered to mains power them yet.


This 3W white LED from IKEA is excellent:http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/50128708

"May not be used as bed lamp, it may fall down and cause a fire." 8-)
Think they need to update their boilerplate.

Andy Dingley wrote:
On 28 Apr, 10:46, Ian White wrote:

Another option for a true head-up display might be an old video camera
mounted above the bench.

I have an old Intel QX3 USB microscope (three objectives on a barrel)
that's good for this. x200 is hard to use as there's no depth of
focus, but x30 has really good depth and is great for inspection work.

Inspection work and assembly/repair work are two very different
applications. Navigating a hot soldering iron puts much more emphasis on
both depth and breadth of field, but requires less magnification. For
assembly this typically balances out at 5-10x.

For really desperate SMD repair jobs (where the full value of some
expensive piece of kit is hanging in the balance) I use the stereo zoom
microscope. When soldering it is backed right down to 7x, and lit from a
raking angle to create as much 3D effect as possible. When the iron is
safely back in the stand, the magnification can be cranked up to 20x to
check for gaps and solder bridges.

Other kinds of inspection may need much higher magnification, of course.

It's better than any video camera I've had, and it's easy enough to
dedicate an old PC these days.

BTDT, already 4 in the workshop and none left over :-)

BTW, along with the need for magnification is the need for a good work light.

I bought a couple of "Tritronic" LED pocket / book lights for a couple
of quid each from Cheapo DIY (part of Homebase?). 3 AAA battery box
and a nice triple LED head on a flex gooseneck. Two are now fitted
under my stereo bench microscope (x36). Battery life is so long I
haven't even bothered to mains power them yet.

Tried some similar ones before settling on the IKEA. The single large
LED is truly in a different league.


This 3W white LED from IKEA is
excellent:http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/50128708

"May not be used as bed lamp, it may fall down and cause a fire." 8-)
Think they need to update their boilerplate.

Think so... the metal lamp housing is a heat sink for the LED, but it
only runs warm.


--
Ian White

In message , "dennis@home"
writes
Have a look at the Daylight Company magnifiers which are clip ons that
flip up, supplied with a choice of lenses. And a hell of a lot
cheaper!

http://uk.daylightcompany.com/home/product/?id=40

I have some of those, they work well even on my varifocals.
I tend to use a big table mounted magnifier with a circular lamp around
it more though.

"Dennis finds his dick" shock horror


--
geoff

On 28 Apr, 15:02, Ian White wrote:
Andy Dingley wrote:

I have an old Intel QX3 USB microscope (three objectives on a barrel)
that's good for this. x200 is hard to use as there's no depth of
focus, but x30 has really good depth and is great for inspection work.

Inspection work and assembly/repair work are two very different
applications.

By "inspection" here I really mean mechanical stuff or '60s
electricals, rather than modern electronics, so the scale and need for
depth is more like your soldering example. Electronics stopped being
fun when everything went SMT, I haven't really done any in years.

(Although the Arduino seems to have re-engaged a bit of my interest.)

On Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:31:07 +0100, John Weston
wrote:

In article , "Peter Parry"
wrote:


A better and cheaper solution is to go to http://www.optical4less.com/
put in your normal prescription but add 3 diopters. You then have a
set of prescription magnifying glasses.

Peter, why go to a USA store that doesn't publish its trading address?

It isn't a US Company but a Hong Kong one. In my experience over ten
years they have proven to be very reliable and supply goods of good
quality.

There are equivalent places over here, e.g. www.glassesdirect.co.uk that
manufacture and deliver in the UK.

They are more expensive and my one experience with them was that they
were unreliable and supplied goods of poor quality. Their "customer
service" wasn't. I see no reason why I should give them a second
chance.

Peter Parry wrote:

A better and cheaper solution is to go to http://www.optical4less.com/
put in your normal prescription but add 3 diopters. Â*You then have a
set of prescription magnifying glasses.

Does it matter if the prescription corrects for a lot of astigmatism?

AJH

"andrew" wrote in message
...
Peter Parry wrote:

A better and cheaper solution is to go to http://www.optical4less.com/
put in your normal prescription but add 3 diopters. You then have a
set of prescription magnifying glasses.

Does it matter if the prescription corrects for a lot of astigmatism?

AJH

According to my optician friend, the astigmatism correction is on the back
of the lens. Thus, you only need to consider the front curvature.

Steve R.

On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 22:48:05 +0100, andrew
wrote:

Does it matter if the prescription corrects for a lot of astigmatism?

No - essentially you are ordering a stronger set of reading glasses.
If your local optician is friendly they will measure the exact value
for the viewing distance and magnification you want.

"Steve R." wrote in message
...


According to my optician friend, the astigmatism correction is on the back
of the lens. Thus, you only need to consider the front curvature.

I doubt if its possible to correct 4.5 diopters of cylinder on the rear of
my lenses.
They just aren't thick enough and are aspherical too.

Peter Parry wrote:


A better and cheaper solution is to go to http://www.optical4less.com/
put in your normal prescription but add 3 diopters. You then have a
set of prescription magnifying glasses.


I wish I'd thought of that years ago. Thanks for the heads-up.

Just ordered some from http://www.goggles4u.com (my normal online specs
supplier). I put my normal prescription in and then added +3 to the
"Reading Addition" entry for both eyes. Just hoping that +3 is about right.

Cheers,
Rumble