Useful tools

[Steve A.]

cheap headgear.* probably worth trying:

http://www.amazon.com/LEMONBEST-Magn.../dp/B010FOSA0W

Man are those things scary looking!



The magnification is much higher than readers or the OptiVisor - I think that they are intended for jewelers and hobbyists. @@@

4 Pairs of replaceable lens included, with different magnifications (10X, 15X, 20X, 25X), can be interchanged quickly; Too high magnification can not to reading books...

short focal distance from lens to product is 0.2-2in (0.5-5cm), just like the principle of microscope

Steve Ahola

@@@ EDIT: I meant to type ... and not hobbyists. My bad!

[big_teee]

I see fine most of the time.
About the only time I use the souped up readers, is when I'm soldering 43 and 44 gauge pickup magnet wire.
The rest of the time I get by fine with the everyday trifocals.
I'm trying not to get anymore gadgets, or more clutter!
T

[Richard]

When I got my reading glasses I got the strongest ones I could see through. Unless the light is really good I normally can't focus closer than 18" or so. With the glasses, I can't focus farther than a foot. The gap is annoying but I can put them on and watch movies on my phone.

[rjb]

I think that they are intended for jewelers and hobbyists.

Steve, we are hobbyists.

Denial is not just a river in Egypt
- attrib. Stuart Smalley

[bob p]

I take a very simple approach to using reading glasses as magnifiers -- if what I'm wearing doesn't magnify enough, then I just stack-on a second pair of reading glasses to get more magnification.

I buy readers in the 3-packs when they're on sale. I normally use a rectangular pair of 2.50 for looking at PCB, and if I need higher mangification than that, I have an old set of round frame 3.50 whose temples have broken off. I just drop the round specs onto my nose, sitting inside of the 2.50, and the result is 6x magnification. The only problem is that if I lean too far over sometimes the extra set will fall off. To get around that, I've worn two complete sets of 2.50 readers at the same time to get 5x. It looks stupid, but it works, and most of us that have "cheaters" probably have more than one pair.

[Steve A.]

When I got my reading glasses I got the strongest ones I could see through. Unless the light is really good I normally can't focus closer than 18" or so. With the glasses, I can't focus farther than a foot. The gap is annoying but I can put them on and watch movies on my phone.

Have you tried the different strength readers? The higher the magnification the closer the focal point...

Steve

[Steve A.]

I think that they are intended for jewelers and hobbyists.

Steve, we are hobbyists.

Yikes! I meant to type and not hobbyists... My bad!

Steve Ahola

[Richard]

Yeah, I'm sure a lower magnification would extend the viewing range, I just haven't got them yet. The magnification is nice.

[Enzo]

I first discovered I needed glasses in 4th grade, about age 9. We found my vision was something awful like 20/700 in my good eye and 20/750 in the other. Most of us get more farsighted with age, and I was no exception. By somewhere in the 50-60 years old range i no longer needed any correction in my good eye for nearsightedness. And just a little in the other. I was 20/20 and 20/40. Unfortunately I still had astigmatism and need correction for that, but really for driving or watching TV, I just take glasses off.

But as CHuck says, we lose the ability to accommodate close up. SO while I can see pretty well without glasses, I can't read anything without them. So I need bifocals.

I tried the progressive lenses and hated them. My doctor tried hard to get me onto contacts. Didn;t like them either. One issue was reading. he told me that the contacts were for everyday vision, and when I needed to read or do other close up, I could just put on cheaters over the contacts. Well, that would mean I am wearing cheaters my entire work day, plus any reading time at home. So if I am already wearing cheater glasses all day, what is the point of contacts?

Steve, I get the point that the metric nut drivers have bigger hollows, but my Xcelite SAE drivers all fit over shafts in the pot nut and switch nut sizes.

[Dave H]

An awful lot of people seem to be going the laser surgery route to correct for it. I just don't see (no pun intended) how that could work very well. I mean, the surgery can cut your cornea for better near focus, but because the cornea isn't very flexible anymore I wonder how it affects vision at other distances.

As I got older I lost my ability to focus close up and had to use readers but I could still see distance fine so I didn't 'see' the point of surgery. What could it do? If they fixed my near vision then I wouldn't be able to see distance. As I got older still I lost my ability to focus at distance too and needed bifocals. Now I'm thinking surgery is an option because they could restore my distance vision and I could go out riding my bike without glasses. I'd still need readers but not bifocals. But it's a moot point as I'm too much of a wimp to have surgery.

[Enzo]

My concern over Lasix is that your eyes are not static. If I had had corrective surgery when I was 40, I might have seen without glasses then, but by 60 I would either have needed glasses or more surgery. And how many times can they cut in there?

[tubedood]

Lets not overly associate HF with being junk... I've used (more like abused) a lot of HF tools and i must say they give it up with the best of them... Of course if your beating on small phillips or torx screwdrivers then shame on you they cant take that kinda wrenching but I have to say my HF 3/8 drive ratchet rocks way beyond what my Craftsman ever did.

[Enzo]

I am not afraid of HF, but that said, I find for example their socket wrenches and nut drivers are not as cleanly and precisely cut as say the Craftsman examples. I buy a pack of 1/8 drill bits there to drill out some rivets or other hard use, and Don;t expect them to last very long. But why ruin expensive bits for that kind of job. But when I buy their pin punches to use as alignment tools, their steel rod is as good as one costing ten times the price, so why not? And so far their 6" ruler has not come up an inch short.

[Chuck H]

Something I hate about a lot of nut drivers is the inside taper. Sometimes the "nut" is very thin, shallow. Trying to get a grab on it with a socket like tool that has an interior taper can be problematic. My solution is to buy up! Get nut drivers that are made from one solid, high quality material rather than plated. That way you can grind them flat on their face so that they can solidly grab thinner nuts. Of course, finding solid rather than plated nut drivers with a deep and large enough hollow to accommodate larger screws can become a lengthy and frustrating internet session.

[big_teee]

I love 6 inch Dial Calipers, and the ones at HF are good enough.
I have them stashed in different places around the compound.
Along with the HF cheapie meters.
I have a cheap HF 3/4 inch Socket set for working on the tractor, and taking off the bush-hog blades.
Good enough!
T