Small lathes /mills upgrade

[C-Bag]

I get dizzy with bi focal , running + 1.50 now . Anyway DRO is a bit down the road.

My buddy down the street gave me some nice bifocal safety glasses and I can't use them. I'm running 1.50 too and the ones he gave me are 2.0 but plain on top so they totally mess me up. I do better with jewelers goggles that I can just flip down when I need to really see.

I also picked up a stereo microscope cheap off CL that I use to check my sharpening grinds on HSS and carbide tooling and that has been a boon. Don't use it all the time of course but like all those other special tools we ex mech's have, when you need it you can't beat it. Sometimes it seems like just having it keeps from ever needing it because just sure as rent and taxes, soon as you get rid of it you'll need it.

 

[great white]

My buddy down the street gave me some nice bifocal safety glasses and I can't use them. I'm running 1.50 too and the ones he gave me are 2.0 but plain on top so they totally mess me up. I do better with jewelers goggles that I can just flip down when I need to really see.

I also picked up a stereo microscope cheap off CL that I use to check my sharpening grinds on HSS and carbide tooling and that has been a boon. Don't use it all the time of course but like all those other special tools we ex mech's have, when you need it you can't beat it. Sometimes it seems like just having it keeps from ever needing it because just sure as rent and taxes, soon as you get rid of it you'll need it.

Any chance you could post a pic of the “stereo microscope”?

I’m picturing something like we used to use in HS lab class to look a cells, but that certainly can’t be what you mean….

 

[C-Bag]

I’m picturing something like we used to use in HS lab class to look a cells, but that certainly can’t be what you mean….

??? why? It's close or exactly what I mean. I was looking on a site on sharpening spec's from an old hand and I think he mentioned using a microscope and I'd not thought of needing that. I swear two days later I saw one where a guy was moving out of state and was folding his small electronics shop that he used the microscope for board inspection, $40. Even delivered it! In the process he had other stuff he wanted rid of and bought a mitutoyo dial caliper in the case $10. Love it when I catch these guys dumping stuff when moving out of state.

 

[Aaron_W]

I get dizzy with bi focal , running + 1.50 now . Anyway DRO is a bit down the road.

The numbers are small on most machines, the number 1 reason I entertain the idea of a DRO.

I've thought about rigging up a small magnifier over the dials, but reading glasses are working fine for now.

 

[great white]

??? why? It's close or exactly what I mean. I was looking on a site on sharpening spec's from an old hand and I think he mentioned using a microscope and I'd not thought of needing that. I swear two days later I saw one where a guy was moving out of state and was folding his small electronics shop that he used the microscope for board inspection, $40. Even delivered it! In the process he had other stuff he wanted rid of and bought a mitutoyo dial caliper in the case $10. Love it when I catch these guys dumping stuff when moving out of state.

Well, I guess it is what I was picturing….

 

[C-Bag]

Well, I guess it is what I was picturing….

You can’t believe how much info you can get from a microscope that goggles or a loupe would not show. It made all the difference in my sharpening technique and ended up showing me how brand new carbide inserts can not be sharp and even be chipped!

Now if I’d not bumped into one for $40 I would have just kept it on the long range radar but for that price, why not?

I felt vindicated in the info I got and my choice when I went down to get an air bearing from a one time high end tool and die maker. He wanted me to take his Bosch and Lomb high end huge inspection microscope w/ original case he used in his job that was at least 4/5x’s bigger than my little microscope. He was a terminally nice old guy who just wanted his stuff to go to somebody who knew what it was and would use and appreciate it. He kept knocking the price down and basically offered it to me for $10 but I already am out of room. He was truly sad when I told him I already had a small one. I’ll bet that thing was $1,000’s when new. I still often jones for a comparator but luckily nobody has offered to give me one…….yet.