USB Microscope

[dian]

flat bed scanner : what is that, please?

[demerrill]

Flatbed scanner:

http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isc...72l860l16l16l0

David Merrill

[lazlo]

It may be better to make your own with you choosing the components. That's what I did anyway, but you really can get some amazing results with what you can cobble together on the kitchen table.

what you see is roughly just the microbevel of some very hard CPM plane irons. Bevel angle was ground on a belt grinder, then directly honed with 1 micron diamond paste on a cast iron plate.

Nice job! That pretty much confirms my suspicion that you need a real focus mechanism.

[caveBob]

Thanks lazlo. Don't know about the optics on some of those USB microscopes that were mentioned earlier. If they're decent enough it may be worthwhile gutting the important parts from them then remount them on some home brewed setup. It would be a simple job on the lathe to cobble together a differential screw adjustment mechanism, then you would have as fine as you want focusing capability. The guy that built this one obviously did a great job, using plywood!