Mitutoyo and the old fart

[bpimm]

I am getting married tomorrow, for the first time at age 68, to a wonderful gal I have known for 38 years...

Life is good and I am happy. Never give up. Have passion in your life.

Congratulations.

 

[mikey]

I hear you guys. I am literally going blind ...

Oh, and I am getting married tomorrow, for the first time at age 68, to a wonderful gal I have known for 38 years...

Life is good and I am happy. Never give up. Have passion in your life.

Jeez, Bob, that is some serious trouble you had there. Here I am, playfully whining about getting old and having cataracts, when you have had such life altering problems. I am ashamed. Your strength and character were made clear in your story and I thank you for the inspiration - I will remember. And ...

You're getting married tomorrow - CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!

I wish you and your new wife much joy and happiness, my friend.

 

[mikey]

I don't have cataracts, but my vision is not what it used to be and I get impatient waiting for my eyes to adjust to near-focus.

I picked up a clip-on magnifying glass online, removed the clip once I saw how weak it was, and screwed in a magnetic base I bought at a local hardware store. Total cost about fifteen bucks.

Worked well enough that I now have one stuck to the lathe compound, one on the mill quill housing, one on a mild steep bar bolted to the shelf above the workbench (to hold magnetic things), and one on the grinder.

Thanks for the tips and links. Having magnifiers right where you need them makes sense.

 

[royesses]

Hey Mikey, I am the same age as you and have cataracts and eyball pressure and some optic nerve damage from pre-diabetes. Like my old friend at work used to say, I guess we went to different schools together. I noticed when I go outside in the direct noon sunlight I don't need reading glasses at all. I can easily read the fine writing on business cards. This made me start using the brightest lights I could find in the shop to help with reading mic's and rulers. It really helps with welding also. Blue or daylight bulbs seem to help the most. For welding I use a 500 watt halogen work lamp. Gets kind of warm in the summer though.

Roy

 

[mikey]

Hey, Roy. Yeah, I hear you, the light really helps. I've been using a big LED lamp near my mill and lathe. As you said, that helps a lot so that I can still function with my analog tools but man, I gotta' admit, those big digital displays are really nice. I haven't used a work light for welding; I'll have to try that the next time I have to fab something - thanks!

Like my old friend at work used to say, I guess we went to different schools together. I like how you said this. We'll grow old together, you and me!

 

[jbobb1]

The day after I turned 40, it seemed my eyesight started going down the tubes. I couldn't hold my mics far enough away from my face to read them because I ran out of arm length! Getting glasses was inevitable!
Fast forward to 59 (3 years ago) and I had to have lens replacement due to progressive cataracts. Still making chips which is good!

 

[mikey]

The day after I turned 40, it seemed my eyesight started going down the tubes. I couldn't hold my mics far enough away from my face to read them because I ran out of arm length! Getting glasses was inevitable!
Fast forward to 59 (3 years ago) and I had to have lens replacement due to progressive cataracts. Still making chips which is good!

59! With you and Bob Korves chiming in, I've realized that I should count myself lucky and stop whining! Lens replacements are a minor miracle, aren't they? As time goes on, I know this is something in my future unless something bigger comes along. Thanks for sharing, Sir!

 

[Aukai]

Well Pops, Doc says I'm at stage 2 cataracts, and to hold off getting lenses for now too. I am now a lightingaholic, along with maybe another one or two other obsessions.

 

[ttabbal]

I decided to spring for a new mic and picked up a Mitutoyo digital. Had a $50 Amazon gift card, so went that way. I'm impressed. My first new big name instrument. Very smooth feel, even compared to older Mitutoyo and Starrett mics. I also like that the scale is still there on the barrel so I can use it the old way should the battery die. No tenths that way, but that's okay. And I have a lot of LR44 batteries anyway.

It also weighs about 4x what the HF does. One thing I don't like about the HF is that the battery dies fast, under 1 year. More importantly, it doesn't tell you. It just starts screwing up. Glad I noticed the display flickering, it was the only warning I got before it missed counts. I found myself using it and distrusting it. That's no good. I also never trusted it for better than +/-0.001 and wanted to be able to measure reliably better than that. I also had the occasional loss of calibration. I started winding it to zero and calibrating before any important measurement. That got old fast. Eventually I just used a mechanical most of the time.

Downside, now I want a matching caliper!

 

[mikey]

Yeah, get the caliper, too. They are bank but are worth it.