About
Reviews (6)
Apr 30, 2016
A great find
I have bought several of these smalls, I have almost 2.5 ounces now. I build HO scale models and have used these small gears and other small watch pieces for scenery in and around model buildings. My latest was a HO scale engine shed by Sierra West Scale models, and I used many of these as small parts in parts bins, laying on work benches, clamped in vises, laying around the shop and even on the end of a scratchbuilt model lathe. The price is very reasonable, and the lot is quite extensive in variety of parts. Yes there are a few little jewel pieces I can't use, but discarding those, I still have a huge amount of material I can use. I even used them as gearing on two small cranes I made. In my opinion, it is the crown jewels for a model railroader.
Aug 08, 2017
Seems a bit weak, but does the job
When I first got it out, I started it up, I hardly ever read instructions, and figured it all out very quickly, so it's easy to operate. It seems a bit weak (not having tried one before), but it does the job; having tried a test piece of shrink tubing on a toothpick, it started to shrink tight after a few seconds, maybe 10-15 seconds. I had to hold it fairly close to do an efficient job, couple of inches, but it did the job just fine. It smoked a little when it heated up, and a couple of times that I used it since, possibly just oils burning off. We'll see. It would have been nice to have at least one nozzle to add to the end, so the heat could be more concentrated, but the next model/price up does have several included. But I found that even without a nozzle, it was concentrated enough that even while holding the toothpick, I didn't feel the heat on my fingers enough that I had to let go. The end does get very hot, and I have to be careful where I lay it down. And not to touch it for several minutes. I won't be using this a lot, as I only have an occasional need for it, but I needed something that would do the job when I wanted it. I haven't tried it on paint to strip it, so cannot comment on that. Overall, I am very happy with it, not too expensive, and it does a decent job.
Dec 12, 2017
Good microscope with plenty of room
3 of 3 found this helpful I bought this to replace another I had, similar, but of another brand. The gearing for the zoom had broken, it was a nylon bevel gear. This one has some features the other didn't, first off, it had more room under the head. I do model railroading, scratchbuilding almost all my own structures, and there are some details I need to zoom in on to get the it just right. This has that extra room I need. It is also lighter and taller. I like taller, the other I had I had to put it on a 3" thick book to get to the height I needed, not this one, it has that extra height. No book needed. It didn't come with a light, however, and was not initially aware of that. My other one had a built in light. I contacted the seller, and they were very helpful, and steered me in the right direction to purchase just what I needed, a 144 LED ring adjustable light. I can't say enough about the communications with the seller. I also needed a set of rubber eye pieces, the supplied ones were flat, good for glasses, I would thing, and I do wear glasses, however, I prefer to use the cupped rubber eye shields, which helps block the light from the sides. again, the seller was helpful for buying the right ones that fit. It would have been nice to include these in the box with the microscope, individually they are very inexpensive, but cost a lot more to buy separately. Now that I have everything set up, I am loving the microscope. It also comes with the ability to put on a camera. I don't have one yet, need to research for a good one.