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Anyone used a USB microscope to align cartridge?

I am both short and long sighted and its getting harder for me to visually align stylus especially using the MintLP protractors which require a 10x LUPE to be done right. I have seen USB Microscope camera's on eBay etc and some of them go for about $30 while others can run to about $400. All of these USB mmicroscope camera's claim magnification from 10x-200x and beyond. Was wondering if anyone has tried using these to align cartridges and what models you would recommend. The cheaper ones seem too cheap to be true and the more expensive ones should be fine but these offer magnification from 50x or higher and I am thinking this is too high for the prupose of cartridge alignement. Any comments or inputs would be appreciated.
ddriveman
lubachl
27 posts
 
Great pictures Nine and Veho. From the microscopic view, how do you get the overlapping lines for SRA/VTA? Do you photoshop them in and then estimate the angle or does the microscope have a grid on it? Also, in looking at the digital microscopes some of them have a longer working distance which would seem to me to be a better option. Comments?
dctom
82 posts
 
Thanks Lubachl.
I used Adobe illustrator as it gives a bit more control over the placement of lines, then printed out the image and measured the angle.

The veho is fairly cheap, I believe the dynolite has some software to enable the placement of measurement lines.

I had to remove the clear plastic cowl around the lens on the veho to be able to get the scope close enough to focus. I think this also necessary for the dynolite.

It is very fiddly to position the scope relative to the stylus to get a good image. Time and patience required in abundance. A longer working distance might well be an advantage.

Fremer on his analog planet site describes his methodology for using a usb scope.
ninetynine's avatar
ninetynine
111 posts
 
Dino-Lite has measuresoftware in the software.
emorrisiv
312 posts
 
The sub microscope is great for looking at and measuring vita (SRA).

The trick is to put the stylus down (gently) onto a CD that is well lighted. You can then use the software to determine the lead and trailing edges of the stylus and using the right equation can determine SRA.
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