LED Light Magnifyer For PM 3520???

[George Guadiane]

I have found several POTENTIAL LED lit magnifying glasses. I need one because I'm starting/trying to do more detailed work and my eyes are not as good as they used to be, and the light in my shop sucks.
I'm leaning toward a goose neck setup instead of one of those folding mechanisms.
Anyone have any experience and/or recommendations?

Thanks For The Help.
G

[John Keeton]

George, here is the one I use and it works very well. The light is a common flourescent circular bulb available at Lowe's, etc. It is 5X and provides very good light.

I think a gooseneck would work better as I have to fiddle with the placement of this one, and continually tighten the connections.

I took off the base, and drilled a hole in my stand for it to sit in just behind and to the end of my headstock.

[George Guadiane]

Thanks John,
I like the lens, but am very concerned about flying stuff breaking the mercury filled bulb (a problem that we wouldn't have with the LED lights).
I have a plain lamp on the same kind of adjustable setup and CONSTANTLY tighten and adjust the light and often fear it will just slip and land on my work, so I'm reluctant to use that type of mounting, especially since you indicate the same issues with this magnifier... But if that is the best, I'll end up with this type.

[Tim Rinehart]

I'm thinking along lines of Optiviser Headgear, like sold from CS.
I've often wondered how that would work, and then you would not have the magnifier so close to the piece perhaps. Also, would allow use of whatever lamp suits your needs.
Would be nice to know if they provide good usage at standard stance from work piece, as with use of bifocal safety glasses (cheap option).

[John Keeton]

Thanks John,
I like the lens, but am very concerned about flying stuff breaking the mercury filled bulb (a problem that we wouldn't have with the LED lights).George, that is a valid concern, although there is a fairly rigid clear plastic cover over the bulb that should deflect most small pieces. Since I use this magnifier only on smaller, delicate work, I don't have much concern on that issue. If it were going to be used on larger work, I fully understand.

[George Guadiane]

I'm thinking along lines of Optiviser Headgear, like sold from CS.
I've often wondered how that would work, and then you would not have the magnifier so close to the piece perhaps. Also, would allow use of whatever lamp suits your needs.
Would be nice to know if they provide good usage at standard stance from work piece, as with use of bifocal safety glasses (cheap option).

I have a couple of Optivisor type head pieces, they are fine if I'm bringing small work up, into focus while holding it... I find myself in uncomfortable positions trying to get focus and turn at the same time.

Still working on a best conclusion.

[philip labre]

Have you tried looking with fly tying suppliers. There are several LED magnifiers available now, perhaps one of them will work for you. Carson has several versions. Magnifiers without a heat producing bulb are indispensable when tying.

[Jeff Nicol]

I have been collecting the little free LED lights every time I go to Harbor Freight and I have about 15 of them now! I think a guy could get a small transformer and take some of the light boards out of those and make a very nice light ring to replace the fluorescent bulb. Sounds like I will have to try some thing out. I did buy a bunch of white LED's from a place for about 10 cents apiece and they don't need a driver to run them just hook them to 1-3 volts and away you go. They also have those under the cupboard lights that are LED and they could be made into a circle.

I have to stop thinking or I may come up with more ideas!

Good luck,

Jeff

[Steve Schlumpf]

George - what about one of these? http://www.woodcraft.com/Catalog/ProductPage.aspx?prodid=28428

[George Guadiane]

I have been collecting the little free LED lights every time I go to Harbor Freight and I have about 15 of them now! I think a guy could get a small transformer and take some of the light boards out of those and make a very nice light ring to replace the fluorescent bulb. Sounds like I will have to try some thing out. I did buy a bunch of white LED's from a place for about 10 cents apiece and they don't need a driver to run them just hook them to 1-3 volts and away you go. They also have those under the cupboard lights that are LED and they could be made into a circle.

I have to stop thinking or I may come up with more ideas!

Good luck,

Jeff
Jeff,
I have a hard time FINISHING "projects." As it turns out, I have two 1940s era articulated arm bulb lights that I was simply going to paint MM yellow and reassemble to use for light, because the old ones will actually stay in place. That project - YEARS old. If I start on your idea, my great grandchildren will have to finish it for me, but it IS a great idea...

I also have 7 or 8 of those little multi LED flashlights, I am going to put them on some kind of back lighting rig for making hats and thin bowls.:o

George - what about one of these? http://www.woodcraft.com/Catalog/ProductPage.aspx?prodid=28428

Thanks Steve,
I've looked at that one, but it is lower magnification than the one at Rockler and a slightly smaller diameter... I think that one will probably have better optics.

[Tom Sherman]

There are also the "Mechanics trouble lights" with led's could be useful.

[Russell Sansom]

re: magnifiers...
I've been wrestling with all this myself. On ebay I bought a dentist's 2.5X stereo loupe which, as it turned out, had badly scratched lenses. I got the chance to try it out before returning it and a few weeks later, completely out of nowhere, ran across the same top-quality brand here in my neighborhood for $100. They are generally selling for about $250 on the Bay. The poor dental students are paying $1000+ for them new.
These are actually binocular telescopes. They give you 2.5x magnification, but the trick is the object can be 16 - 20" from your eye! I didn't get this at first. For a dentist to focus on your back molars with a conventional 2.5X loupe, he(she)'d have to put his eye on your lips.
These really hit home for me when I found a broken wire deep in the "V" of my V-4 motorcycle. I was able to do microsurgery using forceps and a soldering iron in a space the size of a beer can, 6 inches back from the orifice.


Unfortunately, it's hard to try a pair of these out for yourself because of the outrageous cost and trouble of obtaining a pair. They've worked out really well for me on several "ship in a bottle" kinds of projects where I otherwise couldn't get a conventional magnifier close enough. They worked as well as I'd hoped sharpening saws and for sessions at the water stones in general. As a strange bonus, they cover exactly the field of view of an iphone screen, so I can read it as if it were a large computer screen.

[George Guadiane]

I went with the 5X LED lighted magnifier from Rockler... Ordered it last night.
I'll report on how it worked for me once I have a chance to use it for a bit.

My reasoning came down to this;
If I can get the lens in the position that I want, so that it is in focus while I am in a comfortable turning position then I can turn longer than if I end up needing to contort myself in order to see what I'm trying to work on and turn at the same time... (I think that made sense?)

The large size of the lens SHOULD give me a little latitude in motion and focus, so that if I move around a bit I'll still be able to see the workpiece.

[John Keeton]

George, that is a nice one, and was one of the considerations when I bought mine. But, I was able to buy the one I have for about half of the cost of the Rockler unit. In hindsight, the aggravation of the jointed arm may have justified the additional cost!

I bet you like it!

[Stephan Larson]

George,

For my birthday at the beginning of this month my wife went on line to a jewlery tool outlet and bought me a headband light with interchangable lenses to change the magnification and they work very well. I see you have purchased some already but thought maybe someone else might want another location to check out.

Stephan C

[Josh Bowman]

George, I use to do electronic repair and we used some like these.
http://www.debspecs.com/Light_Head_MAGNIFIER_P2255.cfm
There are several types of these.
Coming from a different directions is this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Mighty-Bright-Floor-Stand-Magnifier/dp/1933622695