Loupe

[holsterguy]

For you guys that do 1911 hammer and sear work, can you recommend a decent loupe or microscope that’s fairly cheap? The one that Gene Shuey uses on AGI’s videos is awesome, but it’s also 120$.
TIA

 

[LiveLife]

Harbor Freight has cheap jewelers one you wear on head for like $7.

I used it to do detail gun parts work.

Local clinic Nurse Practitioner borrowed mine to remove small glass piece from a child's foot and liked it so much, I "paid it forward" to her to see small splinters.

 

[Drail]

An inexpensive 10X loupe is good enough for most work. You'll want to put the parts in a vise or block so they cannot move and rest your loupe hand on the vise so the loupe can't move either. Invest in a GOOD light. The brighter the better.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Those magnifying glass lights come in real handy. Hard to find cheap though.

Never looked but maybe HF has one.

 

[dfariswheel]

The "standard" is the Donigan Optivisor.
These come in various focal lengths and can be fitted with an accessory jewelers loupe, sold as the "Optiloupe".
I got mine in watchmaking school in 1969. The head band has been replaced but it's still going strong.
Buy once-cry once.

To do very fine work figure what power you want. The closer to the work the more power.
For general use, sit in a comfortable position and put a part on the bench at a comfortable distance.
Measure from your eyes to the part and buy that focal length.

For doing the fine finish, use the Optiloupe accessory.

https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-...ols/visors-magnifiers/optivisor-prod5769.aspx

 

[Blue68f100]

^^^^ This is what I use. I have the different lens to adj the power and focal length. Have a special prescription glasses for doing close work, arms length or less. Also the one I have use glass lenses which are a lot clearer and don't scratch like the plastic ones. I also have a inspection magnification that allows me to measure angle and distances but no where the accuracy or clarity of a camparator.

 

[GarySTL]

The magnification is only 3.6 but the working distance is about 14".
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01J3N4C58/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They are basically short telescopes similar to what a dentist or surgeon would use. Binocular vision with a battery light that can be attached.

 

[beag_nut]

This is what I use, from an extremely dependable supplier:

https://www.mcmaster.com/headband-magnifiers

For the second one down the page, they also offer a swing-away lens which more than doubles what one chooses for the base unit.