[Jewelry making - Article 00432] - Re: [Orchid] Microscope systems

[Jess4203]

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    Marta: I haven't seen the Rio catalog but I am somewhat familiar with
    stereo microscope setups.  Many of them are made to set up on a swing
    arm system, so finding a stereo microscope equipped that way
    shouldn't be difficult. (I assume that's what the Rio/Mejii system
    looks like)  You would need to have some idea of what power or power
    range you wanted to work in and, of course, the zoom heads are very
    nice, but not essential, to have.  I have seen binocular eyeglasses
    in the Edmund catalog, but they were only about 3.5x.  While most
    optics are probably good enough for your purposes, a critical
    variable may be field width.  My gemological microscope, an old but
    very nice B&L zoom gives about a one inch wide field at 10x if I
    remember right.  If you are going to set under this thing, you want
    to be able to see all the prongs on a fair sized stone at once, I
    would think.  My guess is that five to ten power is about what you
    would use most.  That way you would see detail superbly but not run
    into problems with no depth of focus or with vibration and you
    wouldn't need to drive yourself crazy seeing too much.  I saw some
    microscopes at www.jewelrysupply.com last night and I believe at
    least one had a stand like what I'm thinking of.  There are some
    surplus outlets for optics on the net and there is always the dreaded
    ebay.  I would look around for a used model before I dropped big
    bucks if finances are an issue.  I got my head ten years ago, used,
    for $350. There are lots of these things coming out of old aircraft
    inspection plants, etc.  Spencer, B&L, Nikon, Minolta, Reichert,
    Kruss are some names to look for, but I doubt you are going to find
    any real dogs in such equipment.  It is too much precision stuff for
    idiots to be making it, especially if it is an older model. 

HTH,
Roy

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