So I Decided It Was Time to Learn How To View My Own Styli

[Mister Pig]

The last time I was over at Andy Kims, I got to look at the stylus on my Ortofon Winfeld. I have been thinking it would be nice to be able to view my own styli, and document their condition. Since I am not adverse to buying a used cartridge, I also thought it would be good to verify condition of the diamond, and to be able to document mine whenever I sell a cartridge.

I was nkorah thread, and I decided to do some looking at USB scopes.

I found this one that I thought was reasonably affordable. Given the money I have in cartridges, it seems a wise investment. Sure its not cheap, but its not that bad when you consider sending off a $2 to $4K cartridge for stylus inspection and it costs $60 bucks to get it there and back.

So I ordered this, and it will be here next week. Then I start practicing!

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/07sAAOSw~OdVaQ8-/s-l500.jpg

Regards
Mister Pig

 

[Mister Pig]

Still going to need lighting on flexible stalk to do this.....so I guess I should start searching for that.

Anyone got any recommendations?

Regards
Mister Pig

 

[John James]

Something like this?

 

[cason]

I’ll be following your progress with this. I’ve considered, off and on for several years, getting a microscope. They seem so affordable nowadays. Just never pulled the trigger. Maybe this is the year.
Bob

 

[judsonw]

Now I am curious too... but I do not need new toys. I do not have space for them. and I have bought/acquired enough this year.

 

[c_dk]

The gold standard for stylus examination was/is the Wild Heerburg M5A equipped with a rotating stage and a 42mm object lens. Typical magnification was with 15x eyepieces and a object of 50x for 750X.

Without a rotating stage you can not measure stylus wear....but can take purty pictures.

 

[elcoholic]

Still going to need lighting on flexible stalk to do this.....so I guess I should start searching for that.

Anyone got any recommendations?

Regards
Mister Pig

IKEA Jansjo lighting should do it. Do you have a link for the item listing?

 

[Mister Pig]

Never too proud a pig to admit i might have jumped the gun. When trading an email with the vendor, i am told this is not an appropriate product for this application. So canceling the owner and looking at a different offering.

Regards
Mister Pig

 

[c_dk]

The linked 'old wheel" was a attempt to replicate the Shure microscope. Dealers could earn points for buying Shure cartridges and get one of these (as well as a Cpec and test records).

Unfortunately these microscopes, without a rotating stage could not measure the wear, you could only guess by comparing to a picture Shure would provide.

The Wild scope as used by most cartridge manufactures for warranty assessment and promoted via McIntosh to it's dealers allowed us to actually measure the wear quite easily for conical and elliptical (including fine line. hyper elliptical etc.). Shibata and some of the newer exotic shapes are much more difficult but with practice I am sure the skill set could be improved as it did with the Shibata styli.

Or Shure scopes sat in a back cabinet and eventually were tossed out.

 

[Mister Pig]

So doing a bit more research and this might be a good choice for a hobbyist like me.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00F...ebp_QL65&keywords=stereo+usb+microscope&psc=1

Regards
Mister Pig

 

[bobins08]

When I was a kid I had lots of learning toys, some weren’t really toys. An erector set, a chemistry set, a crystal radio kit ,a greymark transistor radio kit, an amplifier kit, and a lab microscope.

I wish I still had the microscope.

 

[Mister Pig]

So the seller that had the original scope I posted told me that scope was not suitable for looking at cartridges. His recommendation was for a stereo microscope, as a compound microscope is for getting down to the cellular level of biological translucent samples.

He recommended this one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/401239540247

I guess I jumped the gun too early. Time to learn the differences between compound and stereo microscopes are, and what a decent one is for someone like me who wants to get his hooves wet at doing some examinations.

Regards
Mister Pig

 

[the_nines]

Something like this?

 

[heyraz]

The light on my microscope burned out.
Man's best friend to the rescue.

 

[elcoholic]

So the seller that had the original scope I posted told me that scope was not suitable for looking at cartridges. His recommendation was for a stereo microscope, as a compound microscope is for getting down to the cellular level of biological translucent samples.

He recommended this one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/401239540247

I guess I jumped the gun too early. Time to learn the differences between compound and stereo microscopes are, and what a decent one is for someone like me who wants to get his hooves wet at doing some examinations.

Regards
Mister Pig

The consensus seems to be 50x for centering and 200x for inspection with a mechanical stage and lightning from each side. The Shures are compound microscopes suitable for inspection of the stylus wear at the contact area.

 

[rshep]

When I was a kid I had lots of learning toys, some weren’t really toys. An erector set, a chemistry set, a crystal radio kit ,a greymark transistor radio kit, an amplifier kit, and a lab microscope.

I wish I still had the microscope.

Those "learning toys" were the best toys for sure. I'm also following this thread, I agree that a microscope would be super cool to have. Even if you can't do measurements you could take photos of your stylus and post to get feedback from others regarding the wear.

 

[c_dk]

To measure the wear you need to be able to rotate the stylus to the area that has no wear. The accepted rotation is +- 30 degrees, the convergence point for the radii of a ellipse by definition.

You then need to be able to rotate the stylus to find the transition of wear to no wear by observing the change in the reflected light caused by the wear surface having a different radias than the unworn surface.

To do this you need 750x magnification and a precision rotating stage. Without these two things you are just guessing.

The cost of the Wild was very dear......the Shure was a marketing joke, so someone contracted with Nikon to supply a less expensive option to the Wild. As I seem to remember, it was back in the '70s, the optics of the Nikon were excellent but without a rotating stage you were back to comparing the viewed stylus to supplied pictures.

The head of AT Q/C in the US sent me a copy of the pictures they would offer dealers from back in the day which I did post with his permission in a previous post.

 

[elcoholic]

This is interesting. From the perspective of a user vs. a dealer-servicer isn’t a go/no go observation based on a gap/no gap between the wear patches sufficient? When you say measured how is the measurement taken and how is that applied to determining remaining stylus life?

 

[Mister Pig]

To measure the wear you need to be able to rotate the stylus to the area that has no wear. The accepted rotation is +- 30 degrees, the convergence point for the radii of a ellipse by definition.

You then need to be able to rotate the stylus to find the transition of wear to no wear by observing the change in the reflected light caused by the wear surface having a different radias than the unworn surface.

To do this you need 750x magnification and a precision rotating stage. Without these two things you are just guessing.

The cost of the Wild was very dear......the Shure was a marketing joke, so someone contracted with Nikon to supply a less expensive option to the Wild. As I seem to remember, it was back in the '70s, the optics of the Nikon were excellent but without a rotating stage you were back to comparing the viewed stylus to supplied pictures.

The head of AT Q/C in the US sent me a copy of the pictures they would offer dealers from back in the day which I did post with his permission in a previous post.

Ok the next question to ask. Where is the threshold for an acceptable scope we can purchase that will be sufficient for the job? Is this even half way feasible from an economic stand point? What is a realistic investment in this endeavor.

Regards
Mister Pig

 

[marcmorin]

Ok the next question to ask. Where is the threshold for an acceptable scope we can purchase that will be sufficient for the job? Is this even half way feasible from an economic stand point? What is a realistic investment in this endeavor.

Regards
Mister Pig

I use an old medical microscope. although it wont rotate the stylus as suggested, I can however rotate the light around it.......same diff. the lowest magnification I have is "approx" 250X