Scope for reed tongue alignment

[4to5to6]

I’ve been searching all over the place for a 6X scope to inspect and align reed tongues with no success.  

Ideally, it would plug it into an older iPad mini.  USB adapter cables are available but it must be Apple compatible with an available app.  I can easily build a small light table for it and a stand to hold the scope if necessary.  It seems like 6x magnification would be ideal.

 

Any solutions out there?

[Michael Eskin]

They make a wide variety of inexpensive small wand style wireless HD cameras intended for use as ear wax cleaners.  

I have two of them and they make amazing ultra close-up inspection scopes.

 

Example:

 

https://a.co/d/cbhTsFf

 

The camera has its own WiFi network that you connect to and then you run an app on the phone that connects to the camera.

Some of them have built-in tweezers, but for inspection scope purposes, I would suggest any of the models that just have a camera and no tweezers.

 

 

Edited May 3 by Michael Eskin

[4to5to6]

That’s interesting… I would have never thought of this one.  Can you see the entire reed with it?

[Michael Eskin]

I'll have to test it tomorrow and report back.

[4to5to6]

Thanks.  I’m still searching around too.  I found a 5 to 500x Amscope camera but no app for an iPad.  6 times zoom is suppose to be ideal.  There must be something out there… circuit board scopes, coin inspection… what else?

[4to5to6]

What about an HDMI camera with a $20 HDMI iPad adapter?  Anyone have experience with this?  I can easily fit it to a light table:

 

https://amscope.com/products/uhm210-11

 

Edited May 3 by 4to5to6

[wschruba]

Have you considered a photography loupe?

They're available in several sizes, and are explicitly made for use on a table (ie, a light box).

[4to5to6]

Thanks wechruba.  The reason I feel I need a camera with a light table is consistency.  I am completely happy holding the reed up to the light and can clearly see the gaps with my naked eye but I find if I’m just off parallel a bit or the tongue is twisted, or a larger gap, etc. I can misjudge the position of the reed.  I need to hold the reed fixed against a light table with the camera at right angle to get consistency.  I’ve tuned and voiced lots of reeds and built a lot of reed tongues with very good results and measured up maybe 2000 reeds doing reed studies so know what good reeds look like all using the manual approach but think this will be a big upgrade.

.

 

Edited May 3 by 4to5to6

[alex_holden]

I tried using a USB microscope connected to a PC early on, but I found it was too laggy for adjusting reed tongues in realtime: I would start moving the tongue, then a fraction of a second later the screen would update and show that I had already moved it too far. That was a few years ago; maybe the latest generation ones are faster.

 

What I use currently is an "Eakins" microscope that outputs 1080p at 60FPS over HDMI, connected to a portable 15.5" 1080p monitor on a small VESA mount stand. It's fast enough that I don't notice any lag. Not totally sure of the optical magnification, but it came with a zoom lens which is quite handy at times. When it's at the minimum zoom level the width I can see in the viewscreen is 22mm, and at maximum zoom it's 3mm. Most of the time I have it at the minimum level, and just zoom in when I want to take a closer look at a problem area.

 

The stand that came with the microscope isn't brilliant but I make do with it. It also came with a variable brightness ringlight, which is useful to put a small amount of light on the top face of the reed (the light's power supply died but I replaced it). The user interface built into the microscope is very poorly designed (you plug a mouse into it to access the settings menu and do things like taking pictures and optical measurements), but once you've got it configured you rarely have to adjust it again. I prefer to disable auto-exposure and use it in monochrome mode.

 

As the backlight, I started out with a cheap LED light panel intended for artists to trace things onto paper, but the light it put out was very stripy and uneven. I upgraded to one of these, which seems a bit overpriced for what it is, but it is a much more even light and the variable brightness feature is handy. I stuck a drinks coaster made from toughened glass on top of it to stop it getting scratched.

http://www.brunelmicroscopes.co.uk/lamps.html

 

I should say that as I've got more experienced with making reeds, I find that it's quicker to do most of my initial adjustments by holding the reed assembly in front of an overhead light and squinting through the gap while wearing my 2x Optivisor magnifying glasses. When I think I'm getting close I double check it using the microscope and I'm usually not far off. I would guess the vintage makers probably didn't have access to a microscope.

[Michael Eskin]

There are many varieties of these kind of inexpensive digital microscopes on Amazon:

 

7'' Digital Microscope 1200X,Dcorn 12MP 1080P Photo/Video Microscope for Adults Soldering Coins,Metal Stand,Wired Remote,10 LED Fill Lights,PC View,Windows/Mac Compatible

 

https://a.co/d/aFz0JDC

 

that might do the job for you.

 

I have one but haven't used it specifically for reed work.

 

As they have their own display, no need to connect it to my iPhone or iPad.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 3 by Michael Eskin

[Chris Ghent]

The video systems I tried suffered from exposure problems.  If the exposure was automatic the line of light beside the reed when underlit would be overexposed and it would be difficult to see any detail or gauge the width.  Contrast was also an issue when lighting from above as a single light created very dark shadows and I needed more than one light.  It is likely modern video systems are better with contrast but auto exposure will still be an issue.  
 

I found a stereo zoom optical device much better.  Really good for any physical manipulation.  
 

By the way, 4, when I said mine was 7 times at its widest and I thought a little wider would be nice, the real  measure is probably the width of view.  The longest reeds in a treble concertina are around 35mm so you need something about that wide.  

[d.elliott]

I don't see the need for microscopes for gapping, eye plus a white reflective surface,  and Ear seem to work fine for me. I do use a loupe some times if I suspect a reed crack.

 

[Clive Thorne]

5 hours ago, d.elliott said:

I don't see the need for microscopes for gapping, eye plus a white reflective surface,  and Ear seem to work fine for me. I do use a loupe some times if I suspect a reed crack.

 

 

What is a Loupe, please?

[Rod Pearce]

32 minutes ago, Clive Thorne said:

 

What is a Loupe, please?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loupe

[Chris Ghent]

Dave,

 

I can’t align a reed in the slot of any of the modern concertinas with tight clearances without eye help.  With a few exceptions, none of the vintage period concertinas had anything like that little clearance. But I bought the microscope for assembling new reeds and once it is there on the bench you use it for everything. Best use is removing splinters from handling firewood!

[4to5to6]

For years I used my eye to adjust the clearances. I developed a great feel for it. I found however, that if I looked at the reed even off at a slight angle, the tongue position appeared fine but sounding it determined it was off.  Once the scope was perfectly set up to 90 degrees, looking perfectly straight down at the reed set on the flat glass, now I quickly see any misalignment with confidence.  It was well worth the effort to construct the light box.
 

I think tuning reeds is more of an art than a science… a little too much file pressure can misalign a tongue as often clamp screws are a bit loose or you can twist a very thin reed… I’ve even had a tiny filing burr hang over the side of a tongue on a very tight clearance reed and the scope instantly showed it up. A slight edge swipe with a fine file and the reed was perfect.  It’s great for checking the gap for debris.  It has become a wonderful, used all the time, tool.

 

And I also agree that it would be great for removing slivers! 

[Clive Thorne]

6 hours ago, Rod Pearce said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loupe

Thank you. Had seen these things, of course,  but never knew what they were called.

[Lappy]

A magnifier lens on a headband works well.

Edited May 25 by Lappy