On your Veho Microscopes, where are your hardstops? Mine are at 360 when rotating the knob cw looking into the light and 60 when turning ccw when looking into the light. seems funky to me. Also when i measure distance, its not even close. .010" when it should be .125"

I never paid attention to that; I don't think the QC is that good. In order to get highest res I basically set the plastic collar touching the blade edge; set the light to it's lowest and try to focus it. It's iffy at best.

I use modeling clay to position the blade at the angle I want and then look straight down onto it at whatever angle I'm wanting to see.

Just throwing this out there.

Haven't started photographing my knives yet, but from past photo work I used to do, this stuff was must have all over the studio:

www.amazon.com/Loctite-1087306-2-Ounce-F...unting/dp/B001F57ZPW

Shelf life may be forever. I have 10 year old fun tac laying around pliable and tacky.

Today I got the Veho 400x Microscope and tried to photograph a knife edge at 400x after using each stone in the progression while sharpening the way Tom does it. I left the blade in the vise because I thought it would be easier and faster. However, I had a difficult time trying to hold the microscope steady and focus to take the photos. Has anyone figured out how to stabilize it or is it better to just remove the blade each time and stick it on some modeling clay to take each photo?

Also, do you use a dark background of some kind for better contrast?

I place the base of the Veho scope on the WEPS clamp and put the scope right on the bevel. That gives you a stable platform and a consistent area for the shot.

Getting the ligting can be a little tricky - I like when the light is directly on top causing the image to self correct, giving it that black and white look. This only happens on mirror finishes, though. Everything else is a bunch of reds and blues. Play with the different angles, and give the camera/computer screen image a couple of seconds to adjust.

Thanks Tom for your suggestion "I place the base of the Veho scope on the WEPS clamp and put the scope right on the bevel." That solved the problem for me.

I hold the base against the clamp with my right hand while using my left hand to GROSSLY focus and position the edge of the blade on the screen. Then I move my left hand to the mouse to be ready to click on the pull-down menu to take a photo. I discovered that I can do some fine focusing by lightly squeezing or releasing pressure on the scope base with my right hand. And when I'm satisfied, I click the photo. I don't know if I explained this very well, but it's working for me.

Now I've got to get a better light source set up from above - maybe a small goose-neck-type desk light.

Joyal

I made some photos with the Veho 400 and saved them to my photo album but I can't figure out how to post them on this forum. I click on the "Add File" of the "Attachments" and go find my photos but can't seem to make them show up in the blank next to "Add File". Can someone help me?

Host them on photobucket and post them with the tag [I.M.G] (with those dots removed) then the website address of your photo then [/I.M.G] (again remove the dots) and it should show up. Photobucket has a one click solution where you just left click the images address for forums then right click in your post and hit paste and it does it all for you.

Speaking of USB microscopes. I have been thinking about this since I got the WE and saw some of the images posted here. The complication is that I have been using Macintosh computers (exclusively) for the past 26 years. The reviews are SO mixed on which brand(s) of USB microscopes will work/work well with the Mac ... and specifically Mac operating systems newer than 10.4. The ones I have found that do work well are more professional grade pieces of equipment, and I can't justify multiple hundreds of dollars for something which would get limited use. So, anyone here uses a Mac AND uses a USB microscope which works well, please let me know the brand/model. It would make things so much easier than trying to squint through my 40X loupe with my aging eyes!