"Budget" conscious Trinocular Microscope & Fume Extraction

[Drake]

Vintage Apple hardware is synonymous with repair work. Ask anyone who collects or tinkers with vintage Apple and they WILL regale what machines needed exactly what repairs. Whether it was a recap, trace repair, battery bomb or sound chip all of these repairs are made 10x easier with the proper tools. One of those tools that helps immensely is a stereo microscope!

If you've followed along popular Youtubers like Louis Rossman, @Branchus, @Mac84, you've undoubtedly oggled the Amscope equipment that adorns their workspace.

"But Drake, I'm not a professional solder-er-er. I can't justify the cost of an Amscope, boom, camera and lenses"

Never fear casual tinker friend, I've got just the thing for you! not only is it heaps cheaper ($500 vs. $1000) but it performs the same (in my opinion), it can be more compact and it comes in BLACK. I've been using this setup for 6 months and I am over the moon with how it improves my work.

Introducing the High Cloud simul-focal trinoculer!

First things first, the complete package for the head unit, HD camera, ring light, lenses and basic stand came to $491 CAD with shipping.
Store link here: Microscope

Admittedly the included boom stand wasn't necessary for my purposes but you may find it just right! My final setup was a bit of a custom job to suit my needs. I have a desk that functions as both workplace for customer repairs and as my daily source of entertainment and relaxation. So, I needed something that demanded less footprint than the traditional microscope boom stand.

Here comes the monitor arm: Monitor arm (I found mine on sale for $75)
The idea of mounting to an adjustable arm made the most sense, adjustable to any height needed and easily swings in and out of use. Most importantly it folds away to leave my desk space free for other hobbies! (just look at all that tinker space!)

Obviously attaching the head unit to a vesa mount isn't an out of box capability, so we have to get a bit creative and tinker different!
Using the amazing new technology of 3D printers I was able to fashion a basic vesa -> head unit adapter.

If you somehow look close enough you may have already noticed that I have a generous amount of epoxy surrounding my chuck (paranoid until proven safe!).
My .STL files can be downloaded here: 3D Files by all means, Please improve upon them and share!


My next point of improvement was to axe my god awful Hakko FA400 fume extractor. I found a set of 110 CFM fans with speed controller on Amazon here: FANS (I bought open box for $80) The fan housings are solid aluminum and with the addition of charcoal filters they will pull any and all solder smoke/smell away from my work area before my wife even realizes it was there. Conveniently they also include metal brackets for mounting which worked great for attaching to the rear of my vesa mount adapter, Now I have constant airflow at the head unit for stray smoke and one fan can be moved freely around the desk to suit any projects! *chefs kiss*

"WHAT ABOUT THE TRINOCULAR CAMERA!?"
by all means the 2k video recording does exactly what it advertises, it works great under OBS for recording or as a general USB camera.
Watch me tinker: huge nerd with microscope

Most importantly the trinocular cam let's me harass customers for more money when they hand me projects like these:

Hopefully this "budget" option inspires some of you to explore your toolset, find new ways to adapt and ultimately enjoy tinkering more!

 

[Mac84]

Nice work, now THAT'S tinkering different!

 

[Certificate of Excellence]

Wow, that is fantastic Drake. I really like how it can be swung up and out of the way. That is a very nice & pragmatic pro-desk space design.

Spot any Fixies yet?

 

[Elemenoh]

Love the microscope solution. Very creative and super nice to have the ability to shove it out of the way. The boom stand means it's always in the way of something.

The fume extractor solution seems better than a single desktop extractor in that size, but it'd be good to know what should be considered a bare minimum for safety. A while back I bit the bullet and bought a KNOKOO FES150 extractor with 3 Stage Filter. I got it for $380 USD at the time. Perhaps that's overkill, but would rather it be so for safety's sake. It'd be great to hear some expert opinions on the subject.

 

[Drake]

Nice work, now THAT'S tinkering different!

Just like

Love the microscope solution. Very creative and super nice to have the ability to shove it out of the way. The boom stand means it's always in the way of something.

The fume extractor solution seems better than a single desktop extractor in that size, but it'd be good to know what should be considered a bare minimum for safety. A while back I bit the bullet and bought a KNOKOO FES150 extractor with 3 Stage Filter. I got it for $380 USD at the time. Perhaps that's overkill, but would rather it be so for safety's sake. It'd be great to hear some expert opinions on the subject.

Eventually I'd rather have a similar unit combined with these. I know the small hakko extractor here: Hakko didn't have nearly enough draw for me, too much would escape the vicinity of the board. Some folks are fine with breathing heavy metals and licking the lead of window blinds but I'd like to keep my brain plump and wrinkly.

 

[Elemenoh]

The Hakko one you linked to does not seem worth $100 IMO. This Kotto extractor is the dinky one I was using before. It seems comparable to the Hakko, but is half the price.

 

[Garrett]

Here's my idea of "fume extraction". Thankfully these past few days have been warm enough where I can open windows and leverage a cross-breeze as well. The mask is a must though. Can't smell anything with it on, and it filters organic vapors and particulate matter!

 

[tom_B]

so I stole drakes idea and made it better

I first 3d printed the adapter, but bumped my printer like 80% into the print and didn't trust the structural integrity of the print job. Rather than reprint it,

I got a generic monitor VESA plate, and a piece of the scope arm, and was planning on having a buddy of mine weld(well, alluminum so would use those welding rod things that are pretty much solder?) them together

After a few weeks of our schedules not lining up, I took matters into my own hands and drilled a couple of holes in it, and bolted it together


I really like having the stereo microscope, has made doing work on some boards so much easier, and now that its on a fancy monitor arm I like it even better.


tldr if you're looking for a cheaper alternative than the scope Bruce/Steve/Joe has, this is a solid choice so thank you captain Drake for this advice

 

[Drake]

You woke up one day, hung that single wrench and stood back to admire your work. "welp, that's enough work for today, boy am I tired!"

 

[tom_B]

You woke up one day, hung that single wrench and stood back to admire your work. "welp, that's enough work for today, boy am I tired!"

Jokes on you, the wrench that I used is somewhere on my desk. along with all the other tools that are supposed to hang on the pegboard, along with a sandwich, along with like 6 different projects!

 

[Trash80toG4]

Can't wait to get one, 18 months to go yet before Social Security at the max on top of pittance I'm making now. Be that as it may, I've already got what I think might be the ultimate stand for this kind of thing:

Remove the bolt holding the silver. vertical angle bracket to bolt up a far smaller printed adapter. I got this Northern Bayou (NB F80) swing arm specifically for the flexibility of its single bolthole through worktop position feature. Edge clamp only stands are far too limiting for against the wall worktop purposes.

I now divide the listed maximum support spec of a stand by half, but love it just the same with a slightly less too heavy display mounted. Should be perfect for magnification bodge of any type.

edit: excised VESA swivel mount can be tinkered with as well, bolting it up to something else should be a snap.

 

[Trash80toG4]

@Drake Glad you like it, took a look at the panel stands at work yesterday. They've got a similar mounting setup for the VESA end of things, but couldn't tell if they have the bolt down mounting option.

For anyone planning to tinker with any setup like this or just mounting a display to a desk with a back and sides the clamp type just won't work. If you have a beautiful desk like the MCModern Teak desk I use it's still not a bad idea. If I drill a single hole to mount similar setup on it I'd position it so a hole saw/desk grommet installation would improve the usability of a desk that doesn't even have a computer setup when repurposed. Lamp cords etc. are a PITA hanging off the sides/back of any surface.

One question about your fume extraction setup. At first I was wondering about vibration posing any problems. Now I'm wondering if its ittybitty bit of gyroscopic stabilization effect might make a stability improvement for use with the scope? Three axis extraction might be perfect?

 

[Paralel]

@Drake Glad you like it, took a look at the panel stands at work yesterday. They've got a similar mounting setup for the VESA end of things, but couldn't tell if they have the bolt down mounting option.

For anyone planning to tinker with any setup like this or just mounting a display to a desk with a back and sides the clamp type just won't work. If you have a beautiful desk like the MCModern Teak desk I use it's still not a bad idea. If I drill a single hole to mount similar setup on it I'd position it so a hole saw/desk grommet installation would improve the usability of a desk that doesn't even have a computer setup when repurposed. Lamp cords etc. are a PITA hanging off the sides/back of any surface.

One question about your fume extraction setup. At first I was wondering about vibration posing any problems. Now I'm wondering if its ittybitty bit of gyroscopic stabilization effect might make a stability improvement for use with the scope? Three axis extraction might be perfect?

You'll have to put up a pic of your desk, it sounds awesome.

 

[Drake]

@Drake Glad you like it, took a look at the panel stands at work yesterday. They've got a similar mounting setup for the VESA end of things, but couldn't tell if they have the bolt down mounting option.

For anyone planning to tinker with any setup like this or just mounting a display to a desk with a back and sides the clamp type just won't work. If you have a beautiful desk like the MCModern Teak desk I use it's still not a bad idea. If I drill a single hole to mount similar setup on it I'd position it so a hole saw/desk grommet installation would improve the usability of a desk that doesn't even have a computer setup when repurposed. Lamp cords etc. are a PITA hanging off the sides/back of any surface.

One question about your fume extraction setup. At first I was wondering about vibration posing any problems. Now I'm wondering if its ittybitty bit of gyroscopic stabilization effect might make a stability improvement for use with the scope? Three axis extraction might be perfect?

I don't get any vibration through the arm, the fans I am using are high CFM so they can go quite fast, that being said I typically have them on a decently low setting to cut out noise as even then they'll move away any fumes really well. I think any visual instability would be up to the quality of the fan(s) and their bearings.

 

[Trash80toG4]

You'll have to put up a pic of your desk, it sounds awesome.

There should be pics of it and the matching HackHutch, if not the very cool headboard that rounds out the trio.

Good to hear there's no vibration induced by the fans. I'll have to set something up soon as I also need fume extraction for ABS cement fumes this year. Been putting off a crazy restoration project for several years due to circumstances beyond my control. One more room to clear out for carpet replacement after two floods in my apartment over the last twenty months.

Got linkage to the charcoal filters you use a/o the most economical filter for a much larger fan. Been wondering if range hood filters would work well enough?

 

[Trash80toG4]

Back on the main thread of my alternate swing out setup tangent:

Lots of great hardware left over for clamping something to something else somewhere. Three position thickness adjustment, the steel's 5mm and threaded rod is about 7.5mm so it's very strong. Me likes leftovers.

 

[ComputerCompulsive]

Just to let people know -- AliExpress seems to have added various "skus" to this listing and only some of them include a camera along with the trinocular microscope and no they do not make this obvious.

I made the mistake of ordering based of the default selection when you click the link in the first post in this thread thinking (based on the description and images in the listing that appeared on screen) that I was getting the unit with the included camera. Nope...

AliExpress sent me just the Trinocular microscope with stand. They claim I needed to select the "color" option 3.5X-90X CTV 4K to get the one that came with a camera. I don't know about you guys but "include Camera" was never a color discussed in preschool when I was growing up.

So now I have a Trinocular microscope with no camera. No way I'm giving AliExpress more money after a deceptive listing like that! So now I guess I have to source my own camera from amazon at an additional cost.

EDIT: Small update -- I filed a complaint with AliExpress regarding my order and long story short they refunded me $140CAD. Guess I'm off to Amazon now to find another camera to purchase.

 

[Trash80toG4]

Thanks for bringing this thread back to the surface at an opportune moment! Turned 70 in June and first two Social Security checks hit the bank on the first, so the wait for this project mentioned above is over!

I can now begin to figure out what's required for setting this up. Just ordered similar fans and speed control for $39.99 at Amazon!

@Drake couple of questions:
#1 - have you got linkage to the charcoal filters you use? Does anyone else have suggestions? Hoping to find dual purpose filters for collecting heavy metal fumes and hydrocarbon nastiness from ABS/Acrylic cements.

#2 - loved that video, have you folks made the transition to ordering pre-assembled, custom hats for your various BlueSCSI projects by now? Video looked interesting, if a massive PITA for mere mortals.

edit:
#3 - does the ringlight provide adequate overall task lighting or should I be looking for more LED crap to hang off additional arms on my, soldering, chemical welding, Goldbergian level workstation?

 

[Trash80toG4]

Was poking around and ran across pics of your setup in the thread @Mu0n did a couple of years back on dedicated workstations.

https://tinkerdifferent.com/threads/dedicated-tinkering-space-soldering-and-other.1763/post-14608

Definitely worth a look for anyone who hasn't explored it.

 

[Drake]

Thanks for bringing this thread back to the surface at an opportune moment! Turned 70 in June and first two Social Security checks hit the bank on the first, so the wait for this project mentioned above is over!

I can now begin to figure out what's required for setting this up. Just ordered similar fans and speed control for $39.99 at Amazon!

@Drake couple of questions:
#1 - have you got linkage to the charcoal filters you use? Does anyone else have suggestions? Hoping to find dual purpose filters for collecting heavy metal fumes and hydrocarbon nastiness from ABS/Acrylic cements.

#2 - loved that video, have you folks made the transition to ordering pre-assembled, custom hats for your various BlueSCSI projects by now? Video looked interesting, if a massive PITA for mere mortals.

edit:
#3 - does the ringlight provide adequate overall task lighting or should I be looking for more LED crap to hang off additional arms on my, soldering, chemical welding, Goldbergian level workstation?

Link to Filters

The ring light illuminates my desk area quite well and I often use it just for general lighting.