Announcement: Leica A60 microscope review by Sam

[Andrew Biggs]

Or a positioning vise!

The double benefit of a positioning vise is that it can really build up your arm muscle.......that thing is a beast

Bill........If you have the GRS turntable it should have come with a round rod to help you. If not, it doesn't matter as you can do it without. It only takes a little longer. Use one of the big holes in the vise to centre on.

Yes, with a loose scope or stand it will bump out of position easily and then you spend a lot of mucking about constantly readjusting. Get it right and lock it down...........after it's locked down, for fine tuning, I just thump the stand with my hand. Crude but it works

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Christian DeCamillis]

I couldn't agree more Andrew when it comes to engraving . A bench jewelry though doesn't have the luxury of a consistent set up. They may be handed a ring and ask to tighten a stone then a minute later they have to solder something . It's important to be able to move the scope with ease well out of the way quickly . The next step may be they need to file or rubber wheel and need to move the scope back into position to do that.

a stand that articulates easily and the ability to to place it with little effort and have it be rock steady is needed. Today at the jewelry store I probably had to move my scope 20 times or more . I do group the work as much as possible to keep from having to readjust less but as customers come in and things are requested for you to do immediately there isn't always the choice to work more efficiently

Chris

 

[Andrew Biggs]

Yes, flexibility for whatever you do or the way you work, is a great thing to have.

That’s why I like the new acrobat stand that goes with the Leica scope. The handles on the sides and the new levers for locking and unlocking make it a breeze to move about or lock down. Plus the extra plates on the sides make it more stable.

Y’know, Harry Kell would look at this conversation and wonder what the hell we were talking about

Cheers
Andrew

 

[Christian DeCamillis]

That's why I like the Leica . It doesn't have any handles and only one lever to tighten to lock it completely . It's in an easy to access place . I haven't ever had to lock it though because the stand is solid without.

It seems as with all tools we all have our preference.

Chris

 

[tolesh]

Sam, what is the field of view with your setup?

 

[fegarex]

Not trying to hijack Sam's thread but I thought it was a good place for it.
I have always used a copy holder with my stand so I can refer to the animal I am engraving. It has worked great for years but I thought I would step up to the 21st century. I now have an 8" tablet as my copy holder. It works FANTASTIC! You get a much sharper image to view and you can zoom in or out as needed. I just have a sheet of Lexan on the stand and clip the tablet on with those large paper clips.

 

[RDP]

I would recommend you get the adapter along with the 0.5x.

Sam great review, I already have a 0.63x, do you know if GRS just sell the adapter ring on it's own? I looked on their website but could not find it, thanks.


Richard.

Richard.

 

[Eddi]

Do they sell the lens adapter separately?
That is the only thing that I don´t like about my Leica. I don´t get the full zoom.

Eddi

 

[sam]

Sam, what is the field of view with your setup?

tolesh: At the lowest power with the 0.5x objective my field of view is exactly 3-3/4" or 95mm. My working distance (scope to top of vise) is about 8-inches or 203mm.

 

[sam]

Do they sell the lens adapter separately?
That is the only thing that I don´t like about my Leica. I don´t get the full zoom.

Eddi

Eddi: I'm pretty sure you can get the adapter. Contact GRS and they'll get ordering info to you.

 

[sam]

Sam great review, I already have a 0.63x, do you know if GRS just sell the adapter ring on it's own? I looked on their website but could not find it, thanks.


Richard.

Richard.

Richard: The scope, stand, adapter, etc, are new products which might not have all made it to the website yet. Contact GRS and they can help you with ordering the adapter.

 

[sam]

Not trying to hijack Sam's thread but I thought it was a good place for it.
I have always used a copy holder with my stand so I can refer to the animal I am engraving. It has worked great for years but I thought I would step up to the 21st century. I now have an 8" tablet as my copy holder. It works FANTASTIC! You get a much sharper image to view and you can zoom in or out as needed. I just have a sheet of Lexan on the stand and clip the tablet on with those large paper clips.

Now that is cool, Rex! As a techie nerd that you are, is that a landline phone or do my eyes deceive me? And it's not even cordless?!?!

 

[Riflesmith]

Rex, I'm really liking that tablet setup! Excellent idea!

 

[sam]

About microscope stands and such... When I started using a scope in 1982, there were no microscope stands available with enough reach for an engraver to use, so we had to build our own. Thankfully I worked at New Orleans Arms Co which was a fully equipped machine shop.

To build my stand my colleague Emmett first machined a wooden pattern for the base. We then sand cast the base from silicon bronze we had laying around. After casting the extremely heavy base, Emmett machined the vertical and horizontal posts from 2" aluminum. The mounts were also machined from aluminum and black anodized. This was a huge undertaking but there were no other options. McKenzie had made his own microscope stand and I believe Scott Pilkington made his from pipe.

Today we have microscope stands to suit nearly any need, and it sure beats the fire out of having to build your own.

 

[fegarex]

Now that is cool, Rex! As a techie nerd that you are, is that a landline phone or do my eyes deceive me? And it's not even cordless?!?!

Yes it IS a landline. But it is GRS Tech Line for customer support questions. I also have 2 other phones (cordless and cell) just out of camera.

 

[fegarex]

Rex, I'm really liking that tablet setup! Excellent idea!

It works super and usually you can pick up the tablets cheap. I use them for my home automation controllers so I have about 8 of them and can find them with a slight crack in the screen for less than $20.

 

[RDP]

Richard: The scope, stand, adapter, etc, are new products which might not have all made it to the website yet. Contact GRS and they can help you with ordering the adapter.

Thanks Sam I will send them an email.

Richard.

 

[Christian DeCamillis]

Rex, I have to give you credit on this. Great Idea! I never thought about the tablet. I guess I will have to make something to fit on my stand.

Here are a couple of videos I forgot about done by Tira. If I would have posted them earlier I could have saved a lot of typing.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fcpux8HYwo[/video]

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7a3_G3xMmM[/video]

 

[Lee]

I bought the Leica from Tira a couple of years ago and will give it my recommendation. It's a significant upgrade over the Meiji. The arm that comes with the Leica is excellent and has a nice long reach as Chris stated.

 

[zzcutter]

I just wish I could get a head rest for my scope like the grs set up has