Building a Microscope with a 3D View

As electronic components grow ever smaller, a microscope has become an increasingly indispensable tool for any fine work; when inspecting electronics, though, especially solder joints, [Corebb] found a top-down view …. Building a Microscope with a 3D View. The microscope itself is made of a commercial C-mount microscope lens assembly and a USB camera; the lens has a variable magnification factor up to 200x, which is plenty for electronics work, and is mounted on an adjustable stand to move the focal point.

This is paired with an LED ring for illumination and two polarizing filters, one mounted on the lens and one one the lighting ring; when adjusted to 90 degrees from each other, these eliminate glare from reflective surfaces. To view subjects from the side, [Corebb] built a snap-on adapter. This uses a pair of mirrors to capture a view from the side of the object and direct this through the main microscope lens.

An additional concave lens compensates for the increased length of the optical path, and ball bearings let the whole adapter rotate around the microscope and capture the subject from any angle. [Corebb] tried 3D-printing the adapter, but found that flexing caused too much jitter; in addition to being sturdier, a machined aluminium part reduced shadows by allowing for thinner supports. The adapter snaps onto the microscope with small magnets, which keep the optical path consistently aligned.