Stylus Inspection

[oneills]

Can anyone suggest a magnifying device so that I can check my stylus out.

There are some cheap ones on e-bay that give 60x mag - has anyone used one of these and if so are they any good.

Thanks in advance

Shaun

[Barry]

You can buy 60x illuminated loupes for less than a couple of quid from eBay. But these are only useful to check the cleanliness of your stylus.

To check for stylus wear, you really need a 200x stereo microscope with objective illumination, and for that you would need to spend at least £200.

[Lordlidder]

I plan to get a USB microscope (£10 approximately) from eBay, I've not used one before but they should do the job well I should imagine. Most are 1000x,hope this may help

[oneills]

Thanks for that

Please let me know how you go with it

[Cycleallday]

I plan to get a USB microscope (£10 approximately) from eBay, I've not used one before but they should do the job well I should imagine. Most are 1000x,hope this may help

The higher the magnification the more difficult you will find it to use.

These scopes do work but you need to be VERY patient and VERY steady handed.

Try to find a way of supporting the scope with some form of robust stand, ensure the cartridge is also held firmly (bluetac is handy), use a lower magnification to home in on your stylus tip, switch to a higher magnification, then play for an hour or so trying to first find the tip and then get the tip into focus. It becomes easier the more you do it.

On a Mac you need no further software but on Windows you need to use a viewer (normally supplied with the scope on a horrible micro cd)

Good luck - and you will need it !

Mel