Since I'm working on several IBM Thinkpad motherboards and my contact lens-wearing, "half-a-century" eyes are starting to have problems focusing on objects that are close up, I decided to look around eBay for a reasonable stereo inspection microscope. I wanted one that came mounted on a stand that could be moved around at various heights and angles. It also needed to have an illumination system. I didn't really need to have zoom capability (although it would be nice). I found an H&HiP (H&H Industrial Products) ST-50B and ended up sniping it for $107.50, plus $15.75 for shipping and insurance. Here's a couple of views:
Top view, showing standard 10X eyepieces and illuminator.
Front view. The black box is the 2X objective lens which gives an overall magnification of 20X.
Another front view, this time showing the illuminator on. Light is provided by a halogen bulb and is very white
dispite the orange glow as seen by my camera.
I decided to see if I could take some microphotographs by holding up my Canon A10 to the right eyepiece. It took
a couple of tries before I found the right combination of camera zoom, macro setting and alignment to the
eyepiece to get these photos. This is a picture of my Light Emitting Transistor (LET) experiment from an old
T23 motherboard (Top A6). The package size
is 0.2" from left to right. Notice the narrow depth of field (the top part of the package is in focus, while the
leads at 0.05" farther away, are not.
This shot is of the legs of an integrated circuit on the bottom of the T23 motherboard (E6/F6). The lead spacing ("pitch") is
0.025".
Here is one of the many fuses on the board. This one is marked "F9" and I believe it protects the data
line to the main battery. Distance from one end of the fuse to the other is 0.06". It's located on the top
side at G6.
On the top side of the T23 motherboard (G5/G6),
between the Savage video chip and Intel 82801 I/O Controller Hub chip, is an Analog Devices ADP3806 LiIon Battery
Charger chip.
Up on top of the T23 motherboard, next to the connector that the DC power jack plugs into (A5), is the main fuse (marked with a code
of "FU"). The component on the right is a resistor, I believe.
First "downgrade" will be to get a 1X objective lens so that I'm not "zoomed" way in at 20X. It's sort of hard to get an idea of what/where I'm looking at with this magnification level. That's where a zoom 'scope would have been nice but everyone is bidding $400 and up for them.
