I would recommend a stereo zoom microscope on a boom stand. You can get a nice new one, name brand, for about $2500. You can get new no-name ones for under $1000. You can often find used ones, name brand, at local used equipment dealers or on eBay for well under $1000. There are various good name brand stereo zoom microscopes - American Optical, Bosch & Lomb, Nikon (usually more expensive), Meiji, Olympus, Leica, etc. Remember that the total magnification is the magnication of the eyepiece times the magnification of the lens. A typical zoom lens is 0.7x to 3.0x. With 10X eyepieces, this would give you a range of 7x to 30x total magnification. If you need more magnification, some to to 4.0X, and 20X eyepieces are available, but less common than 10X. I recommend a boom stand so you don't have the base of the microscope getting in the way of the board you are inspecting. You will need a good light source. An incandescent light works okay, such as a "bullet" style light that mounts on the microscope bracket. These often have a remote base with a power supply that typically has 3 brightness levels or an adjustable brightness dial. There are also fluorescent ring lights that mount around the microscope lens. These are usually only a single brightness, but work quite well for most applications. The most expensive lights are the fiber optic ring lights. These have a remote base with variable intensity light source, a ring that mounts on the microscope lens, and a flexible fiber optic bundle that connects this to the light source. The prices mentioned above usually include a light source. If you can't find a local dealer and don't care to buy on eBay, send me an email and I can give you names of a few dealers in the Minneapolis area. I have no connections with these, other than buying some equipment from them in a past life. Dave Roach -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tom Moore Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2005 2:30 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] 20X eyepiece We are a small volume PCB assembly house that is still using visual inspection even in the SMT age. Per IPC standards we should be using a 20X magnification for "Referee" decisions. We have been using Mitutoyo eyepieces but they only go to 15X. Need something we can hold off the board surface and still be able to focus for inspection. Suggestions? Thanks. --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------