Tilting Mod on a Andonstar ADSM302 stand - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: slayerer666
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 11, 2019, 10:52:58 pm
content: Hi. This is my first time posting here so be gentleI recently bought a Andonstar ADSM302 microscope that I'm very happy with.The only thing that bothered me with the stand was that it didn't allow tilting the camera.So I made it tilt.What do you think?/Daniel

author: particleman
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 11, 2019, 11:24:23 pm
content: Looks great. I would like to put mine on some type of mount and rid myself of the base. I tried a desk mounted microphone stand but it was not stable enough and bumping the table made it move too much. Still braining.

author: slayerer666
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 12, 2019, 12:29:21 pm
content: We have a heavy duty arm for our Leica microscope at work and even though it's made for a microscope, it still shakes a lot.The only way is to install a slab of granite

author: Hemi345
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2019, 05:39:38 pm
content: What was the reason to tilt it? Doesn't tilting the microscope introduce DOF/OOF issues because the piece you're examining is no longer perpendicular to the scope?

author: particleman
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 12, 2019, 07:03:45 pm
content: Quote from: Hemi345 on March 12, 2019, 05:39:38 pmLooking under BGA, checking for tombstoning just a few reasons.

author: chickenHeadKnob
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 13, 2019, 02:47:47 am
content: I found that a slight tilt of perhaps 7 degrees can dramatically improve contrast, especially for shallow depth features like laser etching. The depth of field and field of view at the lower magnifications is generous enough (around 1cm DOF - didn't measure exactly) that the tilt isn't much of a problem.I don't tilt the scope, rather simply incline the object.

author: slayerer666
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 13, 2019, 05:57:13 am
content: It's useful to have a slight tilt when doing smd inspection and soldering ic's with a lot of pins. I do the placement with the scope perpendicular to the PCB and then switch to a slight tilt.The tilt adds a stereoscopic effect which I like.

author: KL27x
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2019, 10:53:11 pm
content: DOF/OOF. You eyeballs can't focus on everything in your FOV at the same time, either. You put w/e you are looking at in the center of the FOV, and you move the PCB around to see the rest of the board, one part at a time. My microscope lives at about 10 to 12 degrees of tilt. A perfectly perpendicular view might be good to verify parts placement and values, but it is terrible for soldering or inspecting joints. The tilt is esp helpful for soldering QFN, so you can line up the sidepads with the PCB pads.At up to 10x, the DOF is good enough where you don't even notice on my microscope. At 20x it is still very minor, and only noticeable if you intentionally look towards the top of the "circle," and this is a long way from where my eyes spend most of their time. Eyeball muscles are better at scanning left to right vs up to down. You are always going to orient rows of pads left to right, where they will be in focus all the way across.For taking pretty pics, it might matter more. When looking in a microscope, your eyes will get tired scanning around the entire FOV. It's easier to move the PCB. For inspection with a video microscope, I think DOF will still be fine at modest magnification and tilt angle. And big FOV is overrated. The ability to block out what you are not interested in is a big help when working on a tightly packed board with small parts.Tilting the object doesn't work so well if it's a large PCB.